Universal Humor
by NotToxic
Summary: The universe has a strange sense of humor. Giving second chances and offering redemption to the undeserving and unrepentant. But what fun would the world be if only "good guys" got to live again? I suppose I got what I wished for but...this was not how I expected it.
1. Madness or Genius? (Rewritten)

Please Comment, Critique, Criticize to your hearts content. I need the feedback.

* * *

They found me, again... I thought I disappeared for good this time. OK I'm exaggerating slightly, they haven't actually found me yet, but they're getting close, asking too many questions to the right people. It's only a matter of time. And of course it's the MSS. Chinese agents in Bangalore attracted the CIA and where there are Chinese and Americans, I can guarantee that the Russians aren't far behind. I can't run anymore, they're getting too good at finding me…I guess a decade of practice helped. I think it's time for one last experiment before I die. One last fit of insanity.

-Scrap found in a hotel room in Bangalore

* * *

**United States 2095**

Two agents knocked on the door to the room that their CO was using as a sort of command center. The room was furnished with a steel table a few computers and not much else. Illuminated by a naked bulb, it was Spartan in the extreme. Their CO sat behind the table in a chair, thin strands of smoke coming from the ends of a half dozen forgotten cigarettes, going through a too thin folder containing everything they knew about the man they were hunting. The CO looked up as the men walked in.

„I don't suppose that you have anything good to tell me?"

"No sir, he…he escaped sir"

"What?!" The Operator gripped the corners of the table, turning his knuckles white. If murder had been legal he probably would have killed at least one of the men in front of him. "How the fuck does he keep getting away? The man is over 100 fucking years old. How the fuck is he eluding our nation's elite" he spat the last word out, voice rising with each word. "operatives in our OWN GOD DAMN COUNTRY!?".

"He's playing us off of each other, the Russians and Chinese were tailing him. When they moved in we had to prevent them from capturing the target, he used that as an opportunity to escape. "

"God fucking DAMN it." The Operator brought his fist into the table, sending a small cloud of ash to the ceiling, closed his eyes and sighed though his face remained a deep shade of purple. Being played for a fool by a centennial. It had not been a good day. He exhaled heavily shaking his head. For whatever reason, the higher ups had denied any and all requests for additional resources which had made an already shitty situation worse. To say that he was operating with shoestring logistics would have been an extreme understatement, the entire operation had been threadbare from day one with no explanation as to why.

"Sir, we believe that he has crossed the border into Canada. Agents spotted him on the Trans Canada heading towards Vancouver."

"Why?"

"No idea sir."

"Catch him before he makes it into heavily populated areas"

"Yes sir"

The reporting soldiers saluted and left. As the two agents made to exit, the officer from the computer terminal joined them.

"Jim, George, wait a moment. I found something…interesting."

The officer followed them out. The two agents turned to face him.

"What did you find Fernando?" Jim asked, hoping for a concrete location, motive or something that made sense. Answers not just more questions. All he had been told was that they were trying to apprehend the man responsible for the second industrial revolution. Jim suspected that it was political in nature, the government wanted him for some research project or something.

"So you know how nothing we have on him makes sense? Dates don't line up, there's no consistent age, no real background, minimal information about his family and military carrier?

"Yes."

"Well that's what I found when I talked to a friend from Langley."

"You found nothing, Jesus, so you're just screwing with us. Heh heh…heh…fuck" George's laugh was a product of stress and nerves as opposed to humor. He kneaded his eyes pulling on his face, "Who the hell is this guy…just...fuck…I got nothing left. I mean how much are we expecting? The briefings said that he was a scientist. What the fuck did he do get everyone after him, and how the fuck is a scientist this good at killing people?"

Jim sighed. "Well for one he created E-Zero energy"

"Emission Zero…you mean black hole energy right?"

Jim shook his head as he exhaled, sounding like an adult speaking to a particularly slow child "Yes…he was responsible for that. His lab designed the AI's that were used in the Legions of Steel to suppress the rioting and maintain order before and during the plague, his factories built them as well. The cure for the plague came from his lab and so did the white knight gene therapies. Basically everything we use has some component that his lab complex designed or industrial complex built."

George whistled "Shit…"

"Plus he spent almost twenty years either at west point or in the army…so… there should be something." Jim trailed off. "What _do_ you have Fernando?"

"Nothing! That's what's so interesting."

"So someone is hiding him?"

"Yeah, partly. See some of his records were censored by the CIA especially his time in the Army during the Mongol Campaign. More of the document is blacked out than not. So obviously there were duplicates of those unaltered versions."

"You got those?" Jim's eyes widened and his hands instinctively twitched towards the folder in Fernando's hands.

"Nope. Nobody has those. Somebody destroyed the physical copies and the digital ones were all corrupted or destroyed. So all that anyone has are the public records."

"Newspapers and old publications?"

"Newspaper's were all purged too, every trace of him erased."

Jim sagged "So we're fucked?"

"No, not quite. I did manage to find someone who actually knew him. A guy I know had a grandfather who was a cadet with him at West Point."

"A guy whose grandfather knew him..." George snorted derisively.

Fernando glared at him before continuing "And according to his diary, they apparently was always up to something. And not only the usual drinking, smoking and, gambling. Apparently he was pretty close to the brass and involved in special projects. Consistently ranked top close to it in every combat simulation during his time there though which is probably why he was never kicked out. You can look through the files, but I didn't find anything useful. After that…" Fernando sighed "After that there are several heavily censored documents and then his discharge."

"Other than Honourable?"

"OTH. Yeah, right after that he left for Turkey where he was severely injured in a train station bombing. He has no real employment record until he resurfaced as the captain of industry that we all know."

George started "What? Zero to a hundred real quick."

Fernando sighed "Bear with me for a sec. I thought it was strange too so I figured that there's only one group that had the ability to purge files like that. Not just that digital and physical copies were destroyed but that security was breached without anyone knowing. So I got my hands on the Hempen files."

"The what?"

"Tongue in cheek humor" Fernando explained "the Hempen Jig is the...dance that hanged men did. You know, they dropped but their legs would sort of move a bit, the Hempen Jig. Anyway, the files contained all the information the Agency was able to gather on the Hangmen"

Jim exhaled loudly as he ran his fingers through his hair "Aww...fuck...Please don't tell me we're chasing down the bogeyman "

"You expected a strait answer?" Fernando chuckled "Best I can figure, that's how the hangmen stayed hidden for so long, they staged their deaths and probably cloned enough of their tissue that their deaths would be positively confirmed and since they were dead on paper, they were never considered suspects and their DNA was ignored as contamination or a faulty reading. So either he was a hangman but more likely, he was responsible for arming them and providing them with the requisite supplies. It'd explain his OTH discharge. Ineligible for VA Support so it minimises his footprint but left him in just good enough of a standing so as to keep his connections and still move guns in his own name. I figured that the only person who could confirm any of this would be a Hangman, so..."

George shook his head, he had heard of the hangman. Everyone had. They were extrajudicial and some said supra-judicial soldiers who were never officially tied to any particular government or nation. The only thing they seemed to be beholden to was the vague idea of the "West". They removed threats to the status quo with a kind of ruthless efficiency that government soldiers couldn't afford. They were loved and hated, often by the same people, but they were universally feared. Then, after the plague, they vanished. Urban legends say that they took on new identities and are just waiting for an excuse to get involved again, while others believe that they became world leaders and industrialists to control things out in the open. "So?"

"So I brought him in."

"You brought a hangman in?" George asked incredulously

"Well, sort of, he volunteered to come in. He said that he wanted to, and I quote, meet the idiots who are hunting a hangman. We can go speak to him if you're interested."

"Lead the way" Jim gestured

"He's just on the other side." Fernando led the agents to the room where they were keeping the Hangman "From what I was able to piece together over the last few days, while the two of you were dancing with the Russians, was that he was mostly domestic."

"Domestic?"

"Yeah, the sparse trail seemed to indicate mostly locations in the Americas."

"You have the file?"

Fernando handed Jim the files, everything that they had managed to gather on the hangmen, their target and, Mr. Smith the hangman he was going to question. He glanced at the sheaf of papers he held, it was woefully thin. Weeks of work for almost nothing. He sighed, hopefully tonight would shed some light. He opened the door and strode into the room in one fluid motion trying to cast his presence outwards into the room.

"If that was supposed to intimidate or impress me..."

The man looking out the window turned around. Average height and weight, but it was the eyes that made Jim stop. Some people's eyes dimmed and the irises dulled as they aged, others became sharper, more intense. Mr. Smith was one of those, in the well lit room his almost black eyes bored into the agent. He looked at the agent appraising him as a jeweler would a gemstone, determining its worth before motioning to the kitchen table.

"Let me make two things clear, first I am here because I want to be, not because I have to be. When I feel like leaving I leave, anyone tries to stop me they die. And second, if you are hoping for a divine revelation you are not going to get it. Even if I do know the man you're hunting, I doubt I'll know much. That was the nature of our organization." His statements were matter of fact, no extra weight, as though he was explaining how he took his coffee, not discussing an organization that was shrouded in more secrecy than any prior or since. "Because it is inevitable that you're going to ask, I'll give you some detail but…after that you show me what you have then, I leave. Understood?"

"Yes" Jim nodded the Hangmen exuded such an aura of cold indifference that Jim figured that the Hangman could kill everyone in the hotel and walk away unaffected.

"Alright, where to begin...We formed as a direct result of the tower bombings with the initial goal of hunting down and killing those who were responsible for carrying out the attacks. So originally, we were mostly restricted to the Middle East and Africa ocassionally venturing into Asia and South America but Europe and North America were, by and large, off limits."

"Why's that?" George blurted

The Hangman laughed "Because the rich OCED states didn't mind if we cleaned up the Third World but it would have been suicide for us to engage in the First World. In a country with a weak or corrupt central government it was easy to operate. Strong central governments don't usually approve of people directly challenging their ability to control their own country."

"Oh..."

The Hangman grunted "It's not a difficult concept. Anyways once we became an established paramilitary force in the mid 2030's we slowly started to expand, not only because our original goal was nearing completion, but also because re assimilating was impossible. As far as the government and military knew, we were all dead and, most of us, didn't have anyone to go back to even if we wanted to. So killing for the great good of mankind seemed like both a noble thing and frankly one of our only real options."

"You actually believed that?" Jim scoffed

"Look, we weren't angels. We killed people, but we killed the people that killed more people. Governments are, by their nature, subject to the whims of the people and the military often lacks the finesse to operate quickly and quietly. We filled that void. More importantly, we weren't bound by international treaties or laws, we didn't have to play the diplomacy game that too often let evil people go on living for far too long."

"That doesn't answer the question."

"We killed mass murderers, genocidal strongmen, corrupt businessmen, hate mongering preachers as well as your run of the mill criminal organizations. So yeah, we believed and I still do believe that our actions saved far more lives than we took."

"That's fucked up." George's face a mask of disgust

"Look I'm not here to convince you of anything. Over time our mandate if you want to call it that changed to become less about punishing evil people and more about trying to protect the fragile peace that the world maintained. So about a decade after we formed we started going after what we saw as the big fish, we still killed criminals but that was more left for individual agents to pursue as sort of side projects..."

"So what Drug Dealers and Hookers?" The venom evident in Georges voice.

The Hangman chuckled "No, not normally. We didn't care much for low level individuals. They were easy to scare strait, show up at their house at night, point a gun at them and they usually got the message. No, at the peak of our influence, we'd sometimes wipe out entire organizations overnight. String up the bosses, burn the plantations, flatten the warehouses, terrorize or kill the money launderers or low level workers."

"What did it depend on?" Jim interjected before George managed to piss off the hangman.

"Often on weather or not they tried to kill us and, if it was the first time we've had a talk with them. Everyone except the most vicious got a warning visit from us. A noose would be left somewhere obvious for them to find. If they didn't change their ways, they'd hang from it, we rarely gave third chances."

"Why hang people. Seems odd."

"Branding mostly. We had only planned on hanging one son of a bitch but the media got a glorious shot of his corpse blowing the in ocean breeze and chose to name us. So we stuck with it. But quite often, the person was already dead and we just hang them more for the benefit of everyone else than as a means of execution."

"Branding" Jim shook his head "Funny to think that even the bogeyman needed to have a brand."

"It was a recruiting tool."

"How were you recruited?"

"I was at home after a...deployment. The next day while my wife was out, a hangman was waiting for me in the living room and made me an offer. My wife was moved to a company sympathetic to the Hangmen and I was recruited."

"What happened to your wife?" Fernando asked

"Brain Cancer."

"I'm sorry."

"Me too."

The Hangman lapsed into silence staring at the empty glass in front of him. The agents exchanged glances, the silence uncomfortably heavy but none of them knowing how long to wait to break it.

Eventually George found his voice "What did you mean by Hangman sympathetic companies?"

The Hangman exhaled heavily "What do you think? There were a number of companies that funded the hangman. Either directly by funnelling them money or by providing them with the kinds of goods and services that any paramilitary force needs: Weapons, Vehicles, Fuel, Food, Finance Management and so on."

"Wasn't that illegal?"

"No, we weren't ever classified as a Terrorist organization. Most governments preferred to ignore us whenever possible. Everyone liked that we took care of the trash but nobody wanted to publicly acknowledge that they needed us to."

"I see" Fernando stared off "Two question then."

"Make them good ones because I'm about done talking."

"First, how was it that the hangmen were so effective. In order for you to remain a sort of secret society, you'd have to have maintained relatively low numbers. Second, how did you avoid government retaliation?"

The Hangman chuckled "Hoping to learn lessons for the Special Intelligence Division? Honestly, I can only speculate. But you're right, there were only ever around two maybe three hundred of us, half maybe two thirds were soldiers and combat personell the rest were support staff, intelligence officers that sort of thing. As for how we managed to do so much with such low numbers? We had infallible intel some of the best trained operatives in the world, almost limitless funding and, each of us had a very personal stake in our operations."

"Limitless funding?"

"You got your two questions

"It's part of the answer to the first question!"

The Hangman chuckled more to himself than anything else, he enjoyed telling his story. He never had before.

"Fine fine during our Anti-Bomb campaign if you can call it that, we re-appropriated much of the wealth that the various individuals who bankrolled the tower bombings had and used that to fund our operations. Later on Donations from individuals and businesses even governments padded out the bottom line. Some people called us noble mercenaries. They weren't far off the mark. As for government non intervention..."

Mr. Smith paused "The Hangmen were a product of their time, today it would be impossible for an organization like the Hangmen to form, there's no need for a special vigilante organization, governments are back in control, centralized authority has been re-established. You have to remember that the Hangmen formed after the Tower Bombings, within a day over a million people around the world had been killed in the kind of coordinated attacks that the world wasn't prepared for, in the following week, more smaller attacks were carried out and the world descended into widespread anarchy. Governments were struggling to keep control. Take the US for example: It fell strait into a race war, Blacks, Latinos, Asians and Whites killing each other in the streets, more bodies more dead, left and right wing radicals duked it out in the streets and in government effectively paralyzing it. The President started signing executive orders for the military to restore order which it did, but at the cost of more lives lost and a month of time. You can't undo bloodshed, any trust that there was between ethnic groups vanished along with economic damage in the realm of hundreds of billions if not trillions of dollars AND political paralysis. The same story played out across Europe, vigilante mobs hunted enemies of the state. In the West if was Arabs, Anarcho-Communists and, Eco-Movements. In Africa it was the White and Christian minorities who were systematically slaughtered. In the Arab world the minority Islamic groups were put down. In Asia, China used the bombings as a pretense to invade its Southern Neighbours getting bogged down in a geurilla war that lasted decades. Japan re-militarized its birthrate skyrocketing, ironically it was the destruction of much of it's financial hubs that spured the country to growth."

Smith stopped talking long enough to sip at his drink enjoying the expressions in front of him, none of the men had lived through the era he described and for them it was their first time really thinking about it in a long time. "Out of this mess, the Hangmen were formed. The reaction of many governments was nationalism and closed borders, which completely ignored the fact that malcontent was being stirred up domestically by special interest groups of every stripe looking for more money and more power."

"That's not why you left the army is it?" Jim asked quietly

"No...No I could only shoot so many of my own countrymen before... It was an awful time, I'd lost family and now I was shooting people who were terrified and looking for someone to blame. I'd been sent out to contain around a dozen riots, lethal force was a matter of course. Probably shot fifty people give or take. I was nursing one hell of a hangover when the Hangmen showed up and offered me a job. Anyways..." The Hangman shook his head "We were useful and had public support. Later it was a simple calculation, do we risk the chance that the Hangmen turn against us and kill us or do we just let them get on with their business. Many governments chose to let us be. Those that didn't were quickly shown the error of their ways. Now show me the docket."

The Hangman opened the folder and burst out laughing "What?!" Jim rounded the table, trying to check the documents.

"Tell me. Who do you think it is that you're trying to capture."

"Cain Schwartz. Served without distinction for twenty years in the United States Army, eventually retired with the rank of Leutnant-Colonel. Widely regarded as the father of the second industrial revolution when he turned to industry and technology. Secured large government grants for various clasified contracts. We suspect that he was responsible for maintaining ties to industry for the Hangmen during their early years and later manufactured for them directly."

"How do you figure?"

"He was discharged, other than honourably, and his eligability for VA benefits was curtailed and otherwise he left little footprint. He vanished after being severely burned in Turkey and only resurfaced to found Reaper Armaments and eventually become heavily involved in both military and civilian R&amp;D and manufacturing. That and almost every record of him was erased, both pre-military and post-bombings, and I can think of only one organization with a need for such secrecy."

"Not bad, but wrong. The man you're chasing was the founder of the Hangmen. He organized, armed and, commanded the Hangmen for over twenty years until he decided that bullets from a gun were no longer the most effective means of changing the world." Smith pushed back from the table and stood "My advice for you: Forget about this. He has more experience than the three of you combined but for whatever reason he's been eschewing violence. Whoever corners him though, they'll wind up dead. Now..." The Hangmen stood "I'll see myself out."

The door clicked closed and the spooks released their held breath. "Well..." Jim stood, and walked out to the balcony "Shit" He lit a cigarette and passed the pack around. "That...was not what I expected".

"Well at least we know who we're chasing now." Fernando said shaking his head.

"For all the good it does us. The only real thing we've gotten out of this was a bit of smoke and lung cancer."

* * *

**Duluth, Minnesota 2095**

"Uncle, it's been a long time, you look good for a corpse" Chris grinned

"Hmm, by necessity. I'm not exactly the most loved person in the world right now" I replied

"Yeah, your message sounded almost nervous. I mean it's hard to tell because you're either treating everything like a joke or in a homicidal rage but you know. I think I detected some unease."

"You can feel free to put your imaginary Psyche degree to good use once we're in the air but I would suggest starting with yourself."

"Funny… Where are we headed Uncle?"

"The facility on Tanti Island"

"Fuck…" Chris sighed "you want me to land on the lake don't you?"

"Yep"

"It has to be that facility? We can't fly to the Caribbean or Vansterdam"

"If you think you can outfly military jets in this thing then sure."

"Alright" Chris sighed. He hated that island since a storm caused him to miss the river and "_land_" in the trees twenty feet above the ground.

The sounds of machines broke the still of dawn, god it was early. I hadn't slept properly in over a week, cybernetic enhancements and sheer force of will had kept me going this long but the organic parts of my body were beginning to shut down. Whatever was going to happen, my capture or escape, was going to happen soon, I couldn't keep going like this. I chuckled quietly, I wasn't driven by some pure desire to keep living nor was I driven by a sense of injustice. It was simply pride, I had nothing left. My life ended with the plague. Now I lived simply to spite death, to prove that life did not have to be finite. Even if the governments chasing me caught me it didn't matter. A prison sentence would have meant nothing to someone whose life had no finite end. And threatening my life…that would have been completely pointless. In some ways the only advantage of being this old was that in some ways you were freer than a newborn child. No family, no connections. I had nothing left. My dead best friend's grandson was the closest I had to family. I didn't like involving him in this but I was otherwise out of options.

"Uncle, you coming?"

"Yeah" I ran to the plane and hopped into the seat behind him. "Fly into as high as you can with this thing, I've called in the last favors I'm owed by the government and they will turn a blind eye to this indiscretion."

"Fine, taking us up, so… why are you going back to the Tanti Facility. You haven't been there in over a decade."

"I…have one last experiment to conduct, something I always wanted try. Now is as fitting a time as there ever was or will be" I grinned. That was one of the few honest things I'd spoken in the past couple of weeks. I was looking forward to going out with a bang.

"If I keep asking will I get a straight answer?"

"No, I'm afraid not. Trust me, the less I tell you the better."

"Alright" Chris shook his head smiling. He had grown used to my idiosyncrasies and knew enough about me to know when not to press for details.  
Satisfied that we were air bound, I let sleep claim me. I would need as clear a head as possible for what was to come.

* * *

**Tanti Island 2095**

"Uncle, Uncle wake up"

"Eh?"

"We're beginning our descent, thank you for choosing Chris airlines"

"Funny" I chuckled sometimes the lamest jokes are the funniest.

"I try"

The plane descended the last few hundred meters to the lake and as we coasted to the long jetty that allows these kinds of landings I sighed again before making a choice. Chris deserved better than to be left behind without any sort of acknowledgement for his role in everything that happened over the years, even if he knew little of what he had exactly done. I fished a sheaf of papers from my jacket pocket and handed them to him before I jumped to the jetty.

"What's this?"

"The rights to the patents and shares that I own as well as my last will and testament" I held up a finger to silence him. "I'm old, I have no blood family left but I have always considered you family."

"No, no I can't take these. You're a survivor, you always have been. You'll think of something." I could almost see the lump in his throat, he was old enough to remember seeing his family die and his mother's suicide. Now I was leaving too.

"You're right, I probably will but even if I do, I won't be able to surface for a long time."

Whatever else he wanted to say was choked off by emotion. He knew that I was saying goodbye, that be it because of death or having to go completely underground, we'd never meet again. I might have felt something, hell I probably should have but I didn't. I'd like to think that is because I had long since resigned myself to this course of action but, that's only part of it. The truth was more insidious; my work had, over time, stripped me of all true emotion. Even this was more pragmatic that charitable, I didn't want governments, leeches and, parasites to lay claim to my legacy. By giving Chris my legal documents he had undisputable claim to my life's work, my army of rabid lawyers, the only army I still commanded, would make sure of that.

"Take it as an old man's request and then do what you want with it. Use it, sell the stocks and release the patents whatever I don't care. I will have no need of those papers when the day is done. Now please…" I closed my eyes for a moment and smiled. "I have one final experiment to conduct."

"Goodbye Uncle"

I nodded as he started the engines. "Chris"

"Yes?"

"Goodbye and good luck"

He nodded and forced a smile "Thanks"

I watched as his plane took off black as night against the blue and white marbled sky. I smiled, knowing that he would not spend his days in poverty and that with my assets at his disposal he would be able to do what he pleased. My only regret was not being able to see what he did with my resources. I sighed again unlocking the front door to the mansion that I had built above my lab. The smell hit me first, dust and time had changed things. I could no longer smell the home that this place had once been, before it became a sterile place that was used not for actual living but simply to pantomime it. I hadn't been here in a long time, it felt odd being back. I shook any stray thoughts from my head, now was not the time for sentimentality or old memories. Locking the door behind me, not that it would have done much if someone tried to break in but… old habits die hard. What ended up being my saving grace was that the entire complex was underground and either accessible through extensive excavation from the ground and then digging strait down or by blasting though a four ton concrete door that opens up from the floor. The Canadian Shield, quite an appropriate name for once.

As I pulled the lever that activated the hydraulics to raise the door memories swept unbidden across my mind's eye. How this place looked at its best when politicians looked for an excuse for a photo op here, when the high and mighty of the world gathered in the boreal forest to pledge support, and money, for independent research. Egos clashing as research progressed at almost unthinkable speeds fueled by unprecedented and almost completely unlimited funding. The parties hosted after an announcement of some breakthrough or another, the never-ending questions of reporters. At our apex I spent more of my time at social events than doing actual research. I got so angry back then at having to talk to reporters when I could be blowing something up, for science or course. God it seems almost funny now how people used to compete for the privilege of giving us money. Now they compete to see which one of them can arrest me. The hiss of the door as it locked into position brought me back to reality, to the sad reality that I have to resign myself to. Cobwebs in corners, barrels of wine that had long since rotten in a cellar that no one had tended to in over a decade. I chuckled. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

A small smile played across my lips as I contemplated the number of children who were conceived down here, it trailed off quickly though. Dead… all dead… everyone I had worked with is dead, the people I loved are dead. Cybernetics and cold fire had kept me alive this long but at the cost of most of my humanity.

No…that didn't matter now. I am alive the state of the dead can only decay; I thought to myself as I threw open the double doors that led to the lab complex. I always liked double doors, they made entrances so much more dramatic plus they look important. I hit the lights and felt the familiar cold fire of anticipation in my gut. Adrenalin was added to the mix as I walked past long dormant machinery, running my fingers across the equipment. I laughed as I got into the elevator heading into the isolation lab, I was in my element about to do something either incredibly stupid or the work a deranged genius.

* * *

**Vancouver 2095**

"Sir?" Jim knocked on the door frame before entering

"I assume you caught him and we can all go home?"

"No sir, he sent a body double to Vancouver. The double told us to go to Tanti Island."

"So we're trusting a body double?"

"It's the only lead we have sir. And…he had a mansion on the island and we believe he had a lab complex underground."

"Fine, go."

"Yes sir." Jim saluted before leaving.

"So..." Jim turned to his partner "What do you think we'll find"

"I dunno…" George trailed off thinking "Answers hopefully, I mean we know nothing about the guy. We know why we know nothing but... I just want to know who it was that I was chasing. Something that would explain all of this."

"All of what?"

"Why we have no funding for one. Think about it, the man was an enigma. No one knows what he did or how he did it, but the government only devotes a handful of men to track him down? Why?"

"Fair enough, I just want to get this done and go back to hunting normal people."

"Cheers"

* * *

**Tanti Island 2095**

I laughed as I stepped out of the elevator 13 floors below the ground, more because of nerves as opposed to anything else. I had spent over a month on the run but now, now I was taking a stand…sort of. As I stepped out of the elevator I stopped dead when I heard an electronic voice, a voice I had almost forgotten.

"Hello Sir"

"Jeeves?"

"Yes sir, a pleasure to see you again, it has been quite some time."

I laughed again that time it was genuine. My life became exponentially easier. "Jeeves, had I known you were still online I would have come to get you."

"Not a bother sir, time has as little meaning for me as it does you. Though had you let me know that you would be coming I would have had the house decorated"

"Decorated? Why?"

"Unless the calendar system has changed without my knowledge, today is your birthday"

I shook my head, though originally programmed along the lines of a British butler, access to the internet and time around humans had given him a sense of humor.

"If I may ask sir, why have you returned after such a prolonged absence?"

As I began my explanation of my fall from grace, how various special interest groups were pursuing me and how I had managed to elude them up until now, Jeeves interrupted

"But then why are you here, below ground with only one way out and people who want to kill you making their way here?!"

"Because Jeeves, I had a monumentally stupid idea. But mostly because I refuse to rot in prison or work for someone else's grand designs."

"A reasonable goal sir, but that doesn't answer the question. What would possess you to come here?"

"You were here when we first created a black hole, and you were here when we first used the radiation emitted from a black hole to generate electricity so you know that the only limiting factor to the size of the black holes was the amount of energy that could be supplied for the initial creation. I assume that we are still connected to the North American grid right?"

"We are sir."

"Good, so we can use the capacitors that were originally intended to increase the rate of decay of the black hole to create a black hole that is denser than should be possible relative to its rate of evaporation due to radiation. As soon as it is formed we release a surge of power obtained from the power grid to create an anomaly!"

"You sound rather giddy sir."

I continued on as though Jeeves had said nothing "This should create conditions that are effectively identical to those of the big bang that originally formed this universe however because two universes can't exist in the same reality, it is my belief that two things will happen. Firstly a massive power surge will be created as the black hole disintegrates into…whatever it becomes which will overwhelm the surge protection equipment built into this facility forcing a large amount of power into the grid which may cause some damage but more important destroy every piece of electrical equipment in the lab complex rendering it inoperable and purging any remaining data. And second perhaps most importantly it gives us a way out of here. The black hole will, temporarily, connect two points giving us a way out." At this point I was practically bouncing with excitement, this was an adrenaline rush I had not felt in a long time. Only three things could give me this kind of rush and I was about to do two of them potentially blow everything to bits, and push the boundaries of not just science but reality.

"It seems you are committed to this course of action sir, my only concern is that you have been using first person plural throughout your monologue. Am I to assume that I will be accompanying you?"

"Yes you will be Jeeves, if this fails you will serve as a record of my stupidity or if I succeed and don't die to provide any number of functions that I can't yet predict. If you could please begin a transfer of your files to my implants I'd appreciate it."

"I will also begin preparations for the experiment"

"Thank you Jeeves"

I wandered the lab with melancholy tempering the excitement I felt at what I thought would be my last great experiment, my last contribution to the many varied fields of science. I remembered my colleagues, all very intelligent yet all very stupid in their own way. People who had stood by me through the worst and stupidest situations that I had found myself in. People who had basked in the reflected light that I drew and the people who had stayed despite my fall from grace, they were the only people who accompanied a fallen titan. But they would have been so much better off had they simply abandoned me, then they might still be alive. That that was the thing about being a titan, whenever you go however you go, it's never quiet, never unnoticed. When Hitler died the world burned, when Mandela died the world mourned and, when Casanova died women wept and the men sighed with relief. I would not die unnoticed and forgotten I thought as I slammed my fist into a table. If I was to die here it would be in a hellfire created by my ego and insanity not a judge's pen stroke or the backroom dealings of corrupt governments. The melancholy had left me replaced by rage and the feeling of injustice rose within me.

"Jeeves! How's it coming?!"

"We are almost ready sir, I am transferring my personality files now. If it is all the same with you I intend to back up my sarcasm library to ensure that they survive unscathed. You might also be interested to know that government agents have arrived and are inside the house."

"Disable the hydraulics to the cellar door that should slow them down."

"Already done sir, shall I broadcast their position to the monitors?"

"Please do Jeeves."

The situation was more serious than Jeeves had let on and then I had hoped, there were soldiers of all stripes and branches inside the mansion. I was almost flattered by the fact that soldiers from multiple countries and branches were now cooperating with one another. I guessed that after the fiasco in Illinois they had started working together, it's nice to be appreciated. Either way they were moving bombs into position to blow the door apart, unfortunately it was never designed to be bomb proof.

"Jeeves, is the experiment ready?"

"It is sir, would you like me to begin?"

"No not yet, lower the containment shielding. I want these bastards to be here when we start it, all four levels please... just in case."

"Of course, sir."

Despite knowing that Jeeves had done his work perfectly, as always, I skimmed everything to pass time. I had always hated twiddling my thumbs doing nothing. Fortunately, for once, the government didn't keep me waiting long.

"They are in the elevator sir"

"Start the power draw"

When you pull that much electricity into one area everything becomes charged, I felt my hair stand on end as electricity hummed thought the walls. It was a beautiful sight, one to which I could never get jaded. The creation of a black hole is a beautiful thing. Immense amounts of energy, enough to power half a continent, being forced into a single point creating inconceivable amounts of mass. The trick was to prevent it all from exploding outwards. The capacitors created a field which forced the energy to remain, the mass to build until it reached critical mass forming the black hole. By "feeding" the black hole we could increase its size and radiation output. Starving it caused it to disintegrate as radiation emitted exceeded input. What I had never tested until then was what happened when radiation output was inhibited but massive amounts of energy was added in a bid to massively increase its mass.

The elevator pinged as soldiers fanned out into the room shooting at the practically indestructible containment barriers. What is it with soldiers and shooting everything no matter how ineffective? It appeared as though I had miss-estimated the state that the government wanted me in, by that point it was irrelevant though, I was committed. Soldiers, grunts, they came in first, the government lackeys so self-important pushed their way to the front demanding my attention. It was the soldiers I felt for, they had no idea who they were hunting. People who had never seen nature's most powerful force, an element of fiction being created. I stepped to the side as the black hole bloomed in the center of the capacitor ring, the intake of breath almost made me convulse with laughter. It was pure. It was unaltered shock and awe; seeing is believe. Jaws dropped, had the shielding not been down I would have been tempted to try and throw things into their mouths.

"Now!"

What happened next I never could have predicted, never could have hypothesized, but I suppose that is the nature of a paradox, the unnatural twisting of nature and the warping of reality. The universe itself seemed to scream as it was twisted into impossibility, but forced to conform nonetheless. Everything felt off, like being drunk and feeling everything in third person combined with the alertness of methamphetamine's. Out of pure instinct I averted my eyes, I imagine that had I been looking at implosion of a black hole I would have gone blind. What I know I saw from Jeeves's reading and eyes. The black hole itself seemed to cave inward and tear, all that energy being directed inwards as opposed to out. Maniac laughter overtook me, I could hear soldiers and operators yelling behind me. Confusion and terror overtaking them all.

"Sir the…whatever it is, is beginning to destabilize. Records are scrubbed and all equipment rendered inoperable. The lab will destruct once we leave but it has to be now sir!" A note of panic slipped into his voice

"Understood Jeeves."

So with a one fingered salute to the red faced, order bellowing officials and accompanied by childhood memories, hopes and, dreams. I stepped into whatever I had created. Out of this universe and into another.

* * *

**Detroit Michigan 2095**

"What?!...He did what?" The operator's mouth was agape. He shook his head and started laughing, he didn't know much about the man but his sense of style appealed to him. He stopped caring what happened after his task force was sidelined by the chief. But to know that the hangman faced a small army long enough to tell them to go fuck themselves was, in his mind, a bit of cosmic justice.

"Walked through a black hole sir…" Jim said shaking his head. For him the day had been something out of a dream or nightmare. He knew how Emission Zero energy worked in theory but, seeing one form was something else entirely. It was not a sight he would ever forget, seeing a man walk laughing through the event horizon of black hole. "No idea what happened to him after that, he could be dead, could be anywhere…fuck I have no idea sir."

George had found the entire scene amazing, more of a joke than anything else. He had always had a grudge against the military because of what happened to his parents and seeing them get humiliated like that was better than any Christmas present he had ever received. Not only did the military fail to catch the man but his entire underground lab complex imploded. "The best thing is that the military can't do shit, the entire operation was technically illegal and my CSIS buddies have told me that the Canadian government will treat this as an act of aggression and violation of their sovereignty if anyone starts shit. It's beautiful really."

Jim and the Sergeant looked at George before Jim chuckled "You have the most extreme case of Schadenfreude I have ever seen."

"Yeah so? Those military hacks fucked up after kicking us to the curb. We're the ones who managed to get a definite location. Fuck 'em."

"In all seriousness though gentlemen" Their Operator's expression changed dramatically, any trace of humor leaving his face, eyes turning hard "I know just about as much as you, if you find anything else about him. We'll keep it to ourselves for now, we can't trust the military or the boys from Langley. Understood?"

"Yes sir."

"Good, dismissed."


	2. The Twilight Zone

It's the screaming I'll never get used to. The wailing of mothers who lost their children, the screams of young children whose lives have been shattered, and the cries of youth whose future has been stolen. The smells are always the same. Dust is dust and burning bodies and animals smell the same wherever you are. Sure there are some small local variances but by and large they are the same. But the screaming...that's always different, the sounds that tear from the throats of those in agony, something I'll never get used too. No matter how many times I hear it.  
-Excerpt from a Hangman's log

* * *

**Normandy 2185  
**  
„The missions yours now Shepard! "

"Captain you're goanna want to get to engineering, the systems are going nuts and it started there." Jokers voice sounded over the intercom.

"Thank you Joker"

The lights of the ship flickered, the hull vibrated as the usually silent engines began to hum. Anderson entered the engine room turning to Engineer Adams. "What do we have here Adams?"

"The drive core is lit up like a Christmas tree. Its output and mass are increasing rapidly. We're actively discharging trying to prevent it from overloading."

" Why?"

"No clue sir, I've never seen anything like this before." Engineer Adams shook is his head bewildered.

"Does it have anything to do with the fact that we put a core this big in a frigate?" Anderson asked, he could feel the hair on his arms rise as the air became charged with static electricity.

Adams shook his head. "I doubt it sir, there are cores larger than this in dreadnoughts. I'm fairly certain that this is an external event. Something else is affecting the core, thing is we were still in orbit around Eden Prime when it began. If something around Eden Prime affected drive cores someone else would have reported something."

"Could it have something to do with the attack on the colony."

"Maybe sir but I doubt it. This started about fifteen minutes after we dropped Shepard onto Eden Prime. We're no longer around the planet."

"What's the worst case scenario?"

"Honestly Sir, I have no idea. If the core continues to gain mass at its current rate, it could overload and destroy the ship."

"How long"

"Six or Seven hours at least, provided we keep discharging."

"I see, keep me informed"

Captain Anderson turned to leave making it as far as the engineering doors before a blow sent him sprawling. He took Adams extended hand, pulling himself off the floor. He spun around and any comment died in his throat when he saw that the core was dark, all the light that the core produced and the light from the lights and consoles around the engineers was being drawn into a single slowly expanding point.

"Adams, what the hell is going on?!" The only outward sign of panic was the fact that his face had gone pale and that his pupils were almost the size of his eyes. His voice though was bizarrely calm, betraying none of the fear he felt at whatever was happening to his ship.

"I…I don't know" Adams managed to stammer. For an engineer who had spent most of his life around or on starships and more specifically as an engineer, being so clueless was disconcerting.

* * *

**Location: Unknown, Time: Irrelevant**

The gales of laughter that overtook me as I walked through the halo of light died as I looked around at my surroundings. I imagine that this is what a cat or dog feels like on New Year's Eve, utter incomprehension. The ground I was standing on if I could even call it that was as black and shiny as polished obsidian, everything else around me was the same. I bent down to touch it and felt nothing. Not the absence of material, I was clearly standing on something but when I reached to touch it I felt nothing. It was neither hot nor cold, hard or soft it was there but not at the same time. I shook my head, if I spent too long here I would go insane but at the same time, this nothing was bizarrely liberating. It felt to me like I was in a black box with a glowing exit. That was the only real feature, the horizon was ablaze with light which was in turn sort of flowing towards me, it enveloped me and then flowed back behind me.

"_Well if this is the afterlife I have to say I don't think much of it."_

"I doubt it sir, unless your version of the afterlife includes me as your butler"

"No Jeeves it most certainly does not, well despite how people say don't go towards the light…it seems to be out only logical option"

"I wholeheartedly agree sir. If we could get out of here soon, whenever that is, that would be grand.

Jeeves stressed that last thought.

I chuckled at the absurdity of the situation. I was talking with an AI who, had a British accent, was being sarcastic, in my head, in what I could only describe as a particularly shitty afterlife. I moved to take a step forward and I was there, I was at the edge of the light. I spun on my heel amazed…I stepped back again and I was at the dark horizon, the collapsing gateway that I originally stepped through. Either distance or time or potentially both were irrelevant here. I laughed and felt like a small child with twenty dollars to spend in a candy store. The possibilities of what I could do if only I understood this…place. I stepped, moved… whatever to the other side. My exit from this place. I touched the barrier as emotions swirled within me, I was confused, perplexed, amazed and, proud. But most of all I was happy, for the first time in a long time I was truly happy. I was in an impossible place having done the impossible, in all likelihood I was the first person to stand here and I had another universe with infinite possibilities to look forward to. On the other hand…I had never been presented with so many unknowns so many things that could go wrong. I laughed again at my own indecisiveness, a moment ago I had been willing to blow up the planet but now I didn't know what to do. So I did the rational thing I took that train of thought and blew it to bits, when had I ever given a rat's sodden ass about what could go wrong I waved my hand dismissively as though that could dispel the thoughts.

My thoughts were interrupted by another's "_Not the first actually"_

"What?"

I don't think Jeeves will ever let me forget that. The first thing I say to an entirely alien entity is "What" a mind such as mine and all I could come up with was "what", like an idiot.

_"You are not the first entity to step into through the veil into the void" _The voice replied elaborating further _"Many have come, most went from one side to the other. Some stopped. All had the same color of emotion as you. But none of them took meeting me in stride."_

I laughed at that _"Oh believe me, I am not taking this in stride but my day has been so bizarre thus far that I really don't think that things can get stranger"_

"Then you have not spent enough time here"

It chuckled and continued "_You are in the twilight zone human, a plane coloured by imagination and emotion.."_ It trailed off.

_"Hmm…" _It frowned coming to an unsavory conclusion "_you are either devoid of any emotion or very controlled. I have never seen this place so empty."  
_  
"_How do you mean?"_

"I looked through your eyes, everything is black, dark save for the horizons."

"I think it's because I don't know how to feel and besides, I sacrificed my emotions and humanity long ago"

_"Melodramatic clearly, but are you that insecure as well?"_

"No well… I hate being wrong and ...stuff has been so strange, so unforeseeable that if I allowed any emotion save the superficial ones my mind would shatter"

"Strange."

"You know I'm human, you can see into my mind, my memories…"

I reasoned that if it could look into my head, I could see into its mind. I reached outwards with my mind, feeling for something anything in the cold darkness. I felt something, order organized thought, mechanical in process, I recognized as this mind as Jeeves's, his thoughts were robotic I don't know what else I expected. He was after all a synthetic life form so I nodded acknowledging his minds presence. So did he Jeeves's consciousness acknowledged my existence. I reached further trying to grasp at any new line, and I did, I felt a thread, some piece of information connected to a larger mind. In hindsight I was lucky that I grabbed onto an insignificant thought, a passing fancy as opposed to some metaphysical question. The latter would probably have irreversibly damaged my mind, trying to reconcile everything that had happened and was happening with my tiny portion of reality, that insignificant pinprick of light with the massive void that is reality. I probably would have gone insane, I would have known everything there was to know in the universe but my ability to communicate it would have been non-existent.  
As soon as I reached the mind that I was crawling towards, I saw everything. All my intelligence, all the knowledge I had, encyclopedic in size, was so insignificant before the mass of the universes before watched everything, saw everything in every possible universe and they were infinite in number. A single thought was slow but incomprehensible in magnitude. Perhaps it merely felt slow because of how much smaller my mind was in comparison, how much smaller my experience was. To be completely honest I couldn't even perceive that individual thoughts, I saw movement of information in my mind's eye but there was too much information for me to pick anything out. What I saw in my mind's eye was more a tapestry of realities, a display of knowledge that would dwarf the collective experience of humanity. In front of that tapestry I felt like an infant, weak and powerless my pride had been replaced, if only for a moment, by true humility. I was nothing, everything I had accomplished this being had seen played over and over again by countless species across innumerable universes and timelines. In front of this I was insignificant, everything I had accomplished, banal. I let myself drift back to the confines of my own mind, it was then that I realized how bleak my mind was. I shrugged mentally, I always knew that I had sacrificed my humanity long ago. I shook my head.

_"You are amused?"_

"Yes, I have met what many would consider god and because I have understood him, he is no longer god. I find the paradox funny. Thank you, I've found my time in the… twilight zone…illuminating."

I moved to step through the barrier that separated the twilight zone from the other reality.

_"Where do you want to go?"_

"I have a choice?"

"Of course, infinite possibilities infinite destinations, your people believe that I wouldn't play dice. But will you?

"Of course"

Grinning I threw that dice, gambling and drinking had always been vices of mine. And what higher stakes could there be. _"Snake eyes, of course there are snake eyes watching me"_ I picked up the dice and threw them into the unknown, I picked up my pack and walked through to the other side.

* * *

**Normandy April 2183**

When I pictured myself entering the new universe, I had this vision of stepping through and out of the halo. Dusting off my jacket and delivering some sort of one-liner. What I did not envision was being shot out of the collapsing portal like a bullet from a gun. That was the first thing I noticed, that I was not on the ground and the second that I was moving at a high velocity. My feeling that things were suboptimal was compounded by the fact that there was a closed metal door in front of me. Despite having extensive cybernetics and a metal endoskeleton woven into my bones and muscles, slamming into a solid metal object at a 90 degree angle would result in a broken neck at the very least which would have been a rather shitty way to enter a universe or death which would have been ironic given the amount of trouble I went through in my own universe to not die. For whatever reason at the time, aside from yelling enough profanities in enough languages to make a Russian marine blush, waving my arms like an idiot was my method of choice to get the door open. I didn't know what I hoped to accomplish, I thought they might spring open if they detected my arms. What I did end up doing was blowing the doors apart, my cursing changed to deranged and psychotic laughter as I flew through the cargo hold. I ended up flying into the sloped ablative plating of a tank my shoulder slammed into the main gun causing me to yell in both shock and pain.

_"A mere hairline fracture sir."_

"Fuck you Jeeves"

I skidded over the top of the tank and proceeded to slam into to back of the cargo bay again on the same shoulder.

"_Slightly more than a hairline fracture now"  
_  
"Heh…" my voice jumped strangely in pitch "I'm not dead" The last things I saw before passing out was that my backpack was intact and that there were soldiers advancing on me. My last thought before my eyes rolled up into my head and darkness enveloped me was "_At least they're human_."


	3. Revelations

Then I saw "a new heaven and a new earth," for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.  
Revelations 21:1

* * *

Normandy 2183

I could feel myself return to the land of the living, consciousness slowly returning. I heard voices, speaking English, one with a slight British accent another that spoke with instinctive authority.

"…it may…Oh Captain Anderson

"How's our XO holding up Doctor?"

"We'll all the readings look normal, I'd say the Commander is going to be just fine."

"Glad to hear it, Shepard I need to speak to you in private"

I heard footsteps and the sounds of a door closing.

"Sounds like the Beacon hit you pretty hard, are you sure you're OK?"

"I'm fine Captain."

"Good, good…I'm not going to lie to you Shepard, things look bad. Nihlus was supposed to evaluate your combat skills now he's dead and, the geth are invading, the council is going to want answers."

"Let them ask, we have nothing to hide."

"No we don't but that's not why I'm here. Saren, the other Specter, is a problem. He's a legend among the Specters but he hates humanity. Thinks we're expanding too quickly, that we're too independent. He thinks we're dangerous and a threat to the galaxy. If he's working with the geth that means he's gone rouge and he won't rest until every human colony is gone and Earth itself is destroyed."

"So we take him down!" I could hear a fist slam into a palm, whoever the commander was, she was clearly gunning for a fight. I liked that.

"It's not that easy, Saren is a Specter. He can go anywhere, do anything."

"So we prove that he's gone rouge, and then we take him down."

"That's the idea Commander, that's the idea. We're still a ways out from the Citadel why don't you make sure that you're OK."

"Yes sir"

I assumed that at this point Commander Shepard saw me as her next question was "Who the hell is that?"

"We don't know and I suppose that's more important now. Shepard get Doctor Chakwas in here, I think it's time we get to know our guest."  
_  
_I heard doors slide open, I kept myself relaxed, I figured that the more that I knew about where I was and who I was around the better. Not that I could do much else truth be told, the pounding in my temples, even though it was receding was still quite painful.

"Doctor, what do we know about our guest?" It was interesting to hear the captain speak, his voice was almost completely even with very little variation in pitch.

"Based on this passport his name was James, he was born in the 1900's"

"How is that possible?" Shepard asked, incredulity in her voice. The thundering in my temples had receded to the point where I could make out specifics in the voices around me. Her voice was undeniably feminine, but underneath there was a definite sharpness to it.

"Bear with me commander. He was born in Europe, or at least this passport is from the European Union. The rest of the passport is too badly damaged to read anything. He is human but has been very heavily modified, both physically and on a genetic level."

"How?" Shepard again. Inquisitive. Good.

"His entire skeleton has been coated in a metallic compound and has had the same metal woven into his muscle fibers. I imagine that's why he survived the impact with the Mako and with the cargo bay door."

"He didn't actually hit the door doctor, he used Biotics to blow the damn thing to pieces" The Captains voice, it had just noticed the slight British tint to it. It wasn't as severe as the Doctors. A more cosmopolitan individual, or at least one who spoke multiple languages. I had to smile as his voice become slightly more…agitated towards the end of his sentence. Apparently Biotics, whatever those were, were impressive and I'd somehow used them and surprised him.

"He has also had extensive neural implants, they run throughout his body concentrating in his brain and fingertips, I'm tempted to call it a grey box but I can't be sure without surgery which is not something I'm equipped to do aboard the Normandy. What I don't understand is the concentration in his fingertips but regardless. His DNA has been heavily altered, superfluous junk sequences have been removed but sequences have been added as well. His DNA can also code from both directions, there is no leading or lagging strand and because of the additions it seems to be almost twice as long as a normal strand."

"To what end Doctor?" The captain again.

"He doesn't age, or if he does he ages very slowly. The DNA in his cells will not degrade. But even more interesting is the addition of two additional stabilization strands. Also look here" The doctor gestured at something "The damage to his shoulder from the impact with the Mako and bay doors has almost completely healed."

"Accelerated healing?"

"Yes, it almost seems Krogan"

"But he's human?"

"As far as I can tell"

While they were talking and staring at a projection of my skeleton I sat and eventually stood. Groaning quietly as I cracked the joints in my back and neck. That impact was going to bruise nicely, enhancements prevented breaks and tears but unfortunately not bruises. I looked around, a fairly standard medical bay from the looks of it but filled with machinery whose purpose I could only guess at. Two doors, one out to rest of wherever I was and went further in, to what I assumed was lab. It was so tempting to just stand up and walk into the rest of the med bay while the trio were engrossed in the various little details of my implants and modifications. Which made sense really, I had become used to my modifications and implants but to anyone else they would have been mildly interesting at least.

"Here. Why are there clusters of synthetic nerves in the fingertips?"

"They allowed us to experience additional sensations in our hands, improved dexterity and the like" I answered coming up behind the trio.  
The projection they had did an incredible job of separating the layers of my body. Enhanced, synthetic and, organic all came up a different color and slightly elevated from one another. A beautiful rendition. Something like this would have been invaluable when I was first designing these implants.

"You're awake" Came the slightly dumb comment from the captain

"Yes." I allowed a crooked smile to creep onto my face "For a while now, I wanted to see how you were reacting to my presence and adjust my initial actions appropriately."

"How so?" The Captain did seem to like asking painfully obvious questions.

"Well if you were planning to dissect me or detain me I probably wouldn't be talking to you. But since you're only asking questions, and good ones, I feel obliged to go along."

"Well you might as well sit down again." He said gesturing to the bed I was previously lying on "I have several questi…"

I waved a hand to interrupt him."Forgive me captain, but I am in your custody. You hold all the cards and,at the moment, have no idea where I am, when I am and, who the three of you are beyond rank. Answer four questions then I'll answer any that you may have to the best of my abilities" The captain looked at me for something, whatever he was looking for he found it because he nodded at me which I assumed meant that he was willing to let me ask my questions "When am I? Where am I? What was to worst disease pandemic to affect the world and, who are you?"

"Why the third question?" Shepard met my eyes, it had been a long time since people trusted themselves to try and stare me down. Having an equal was a new experience for me

"Humor me" I replied and I let a laugh creep into my eyes.

"It's 2183" I nodded, some degree of time travel wasn't too crazy given what had happened "You're aboard the SSV Normandy in the Exodus Cluster…"

I cut the commander of "I'm sorry where?"

"The exodus cluster was one of the first systems colonized by humans in the middle of the 22nd."

"So I'm in space?"

"Yes, the Normandy is an alliance frigate."

"Well... shit" I held my head in the palm of one hand pinching the bridge of my nose. There was no way that in the 90 years after the plague humanity would have been able to develop this kind of technology. We were still recovering from the ravages of the disease and the anarchy that followed. Despite my best efforts to control it, my I could feel my blood run cold and pulse race. This was bizarre, either I had severely misjudged Chris and his ability to utilize my fortune, which was unlikely, or something else was going on. I didn't know which one I feared more.

The captain stared at me intently, trying to gauge my reactions. Trying to get a feel for how I was taking everything in.

"I am Doctor Karin Chakwas, Captain David Anderson and, Commander Jessica Shepard" The doctor towards each of them in turn.

I felt as though someone had a vise around my chest crushing my lungs driving the air from my chest. My mind raced, individually these could be coincidence but together…not a chance…this is… impossible, this can't be. "Last question" I could barely get the words out, I couldn't focus, my thoughts were a frenzy of questions, questions to which I had no answers. Not even the beginning of an answer.

"The last plague of note was…the Spanish Influenza during world war one"

The vise around my chest had tightened to the point where I could barely breath, I felt as though someone had grabbed my gut and twisted it. My eyes expand, blood turn to ice and, my face went pale as a sheet. I staggered backwards into the wall and slid down it. My head in my hands I sat there for what felt like an age, as I struggled to grasp what I had been told and its implications. There is no way anyone would call the influenza worse than the plague of the 21st meaning that it had never happened which meant, that if I was being told the truth, I had moved not just through time but also from one reality to the other. I wasn't in the universe I had been born in.

_"Allow me to record this as the first time in your life that you were truly dumbfounded sir."_ I was too weak to even muster a reply to Jeeves' barb.

Why the fuck did I gamble, I could have gone to some unearthly paradise. "_Story of your life sir."_

Instead I was in some variant of a universe that was never supposed to exist. I was going to have to play dumb for a while. I sat like that hunched over until I was able to, at least partially, compartmentalize what I had learned. I took a shaky breath and stood long enough to move to sit on one of the beds. I inhaled deeply filling my lungs completely before exhaling heavily and slowly.

"Not what you expected to hear?" The captain looked at me

"How would you feel if the universe you find yourself in is different from the one that you left the day before?" I asked, my voice shaking slightly "It's quite a bit to take in, different universe and to top it off I'm in space for the first time in my life…and you have artificial gravity too. So yeah you could say that." I exhaled sharply again and shook my head. I grinned and laughed with more than a touch of mania, true I was in, a different universe but that meant I could start over. My number wasn't up I could do whatever I wanted without an identity I could be whoever I wanted…it was beautiful really. Of course I'd end up on someone's shit list, that was just my nature…but I had a galaxy to explore, shock had turned to maniac excitement."So" I asked smiling "What do you want to know?"

"Do you always have these kinds of mood swings?" The commander asked laughing slightly, my mind was finally clear enough to take her appearance. She was tall for a women an inch or two under 6 feet tall, Caucasian. Shoulder length red hair, piercing green eyes and, a scar that started just half an inch from her left eyes and ran down the length of her face curving under her jaw. She had the ghost of laugh lines around her eyes. She was either an incredibly talented soldier or extremely lucky or both to be the second in command of a warship at her age and not have more scars or injuries. Especially considering the fact that, I suspected, she started out as a grunt.

People who were trained as officers have a different bearing than people who were once cannon fodder. They stand straighter, eyes dart faster but are paradoxically more relaxed more accepting of uncertainty than purebred officers. Usually better taking things in stride. That is probably why she could laugh despite the bizarre nature of the situation.

"Not usually but…this is actually pretty amazing. Spaceships which means there is a galaxy to explore, which means there are aliens which is fucking incredible. We had limited space travel, but galactic expansionism was a solid century beyond us, no artificial gravity and no aliens. So…why shouldn't I be at least curious of the possibilities."

"Fair enough" The captain drew my attention back to him. "Give us the tombstone details"

"Well, as Doctor Chakwas correctly stated, my first name is James, and I was in fact born in the 1990's in Eastern Europe. I grew up in North America and Europe dividing my time between my parents. At 19 I enrolled in West Point military academy. I graduated at 23 and was dishonorably discharged a couple decades later."

"Most people I know of aren't that proud to go Cat 6" Shepard remarked

"Sure by most people didn't have my motives. The tower bombings had just been carried out, which were what they sounded like. Anarchists, republicans and, terrorists found themselves working together to achieve the same thing: sending a message to governments across the world. They bombed and destroyed or damaged towers and landmarks around the world. The CN tower, Needle, Three Gorges Damn, Tokyo Skytree, The Tower Bridge, Cristo Redentor, The Spring Temple Buddha, The Motherland Calls... I could go on for days, almost 300 structures were hit across the world. Governments turned inwards, looking for domestic terrorists and dissidents. Beefing up national security and crushing anything that could be considered "deviant" activity. But that wasn't the issue." I spoke through gritted teeth, I could feel my expression twist into a snarl, even the memory of that decade's bullshit was enough to bring my blood to boil. "Failed states in the middle east and Africa allowed semi-official extremist and paramilitary groups to flourish in exchange for protecting the interest of the warlords in the failed states . It was only a matter of time until these organizations and the fanatical followers displaced the warlords they were supposed to be protecting and began an undeclared war against the United States and Europe."

"That still doesn't explain why you went CAT 6"

"I had contacts among the Kurds of Turkey and Iraq. I got myself discharged and half a dozen other guys followed me." I shook my head at the memories "Anyway we waged a campaign against the groups responsible for the attacks and the people that enabled them. We eventually assassinated the grand Vizier of the Levant Caliphate who bankrolled the operation. He was found hung off a decorative beam on the outside wall of his home. The media branded us Hangmen and the public went crazy."

Shepard shook her head letting out a low whistle

"After…it was just under twenty years of that I got tired of the fighting, I used my contacts in the government and industrial complex to start a private Research institute. Within a decade I was being funded beyond measure, tens of billions of dollars a year flowed through my fingers. I had my fingers in almost…well actually every sector."

"Why and how did you end up here?" The captain asked. This was the make or break question.

"Why. I don't know. I really don't. How…that's a different beast entirely."

I launched into the explanation of how I disappeared for almost a decade becoming a ghost silently killing my way across continents eliminating those who threatened the fragile peace that the world had found. How I did the occasional bit of research published the odd meta-study. I didn't mention the plague, that was too personal, or what it had done to the planet. But when I explained how I escaped the multi-national manhunt that ensued. I could see that the soldiers in the room were impressed, the two of them knew what it was like to be hunted. My suspicions of this being a Special Forces mission were confirmed by their reactions, only Special Forces would have that much experience and respect for an elusive man. But the most enjoyable part of my story were their expressions when I told them how I escaped my reality. As I listened to myself tell it well… hell even I had to admire my own guts. Shepard's eyes had bugged out completely and her jaw hung open, Doctor Chakwas shook her head muttering something about stupid soldiers. The captain looked at me with utter disbelief in his eyes.

"You detonated a black hole" He asked eyes wide, like a child who had seen a magic trick preformed for the first time.

"Yes and it seems to have torn a hole in…I'm hesitant to say reality but…reality. I'm not even sure how it worked, I just refused to be put down like "  
Now it was my turn to wait as the trio took in what I had told them. The captain recovered first, by virtue of experience of dealing with crazy shit or his stoic nature I don't know but he, for the first time asked a question to which I didn't have an answer.

"So what do you intend to now."

"To be honest I only see one reasonable outcome. I join the crew of the ship as some sort of independent contractor."

"Why is that the only option?"

"If you drop me somewhere I'll be forced to find employment. Without any records, history or background I'd be forced to turn to crime. With my skill set I'd excel at it but…that's not in your best interests to let a man like myself loose on anyone let alone the galaxy at large. So you could try to kill me…but none of you have heavy weapons here and with my enhancements any fist fight would be laughably one sided." I saw Shepard bristle out of the corner of my eye. She would push herself to superhuman extremes to get the job done if only to avoid having to concede any sort of weakness. "So again that's not an option. So the only thing I can think of is that I become an unofficial member of the crew. Of course you could try to explain the situation the led to me being hear but…that would be difficult at the best of times and from what I can gather this isn't the best of times."

The Captain laughed "If even half of what you've said it true, turning you loose is hardly an option. Any other time I'd have you arrested, but if even half of what you've said is true you might prove to be invaluable."

I didn't interrupt him, he was trying to justify accepting me as part of the crew, and I figured that there would be plenty of time for questions later. But I was interested to know what had happened, because clearly, something big was developing. With an infinite number of universes…I could be in any manifestation of this one. I had no way of knowing how much this universe deviated from what I thought I knew. Besides that, I had to "learn" from somewhere, I couldn't just drop into a new universe and know everything about everything. That would have attracted the wrong kind of attention much too quickly.

"Alright, for the time being. You'll stay onboard the Normandy as an unofficial crewmember. However if you put the ship or its crew in danger…you will be dumped on the nearest planet, inhabitable or not. Understood?"

I nodded "A fair enough agreement"

The captain looked to the commander "Give our guest a tour of the ship once you've dealt with Alenko and Ashley."

"Ashley joined the crew sir?" Shepard asked, someone she met on the ill-fated mission that landed her here.

"Yes I felt that we could you someone like her onboard"

"I think that's a good idea. Williams is a fine soldier"

"Lieutenant Alenko agrees with you" The captain almost seemed to laugh as he said that. I didn't understand why he would find that funny perhaps it was just the thought that everything had worked out as well as had. Either way I learned a long time ago that when your commanding officer was happy your life expectancy increased. "

Shepard looked at me "Alright let's get your tour over with then before I do anything else"

"Actually commander I'd like to go through my pack and get my thoughts in order before venturing out into the rest of the ship. This conversation short as it's been has given me a lot to process."

She nodded "Alright I should probably go and talk to Alenko and Williams alone first anyway" She left the captain following close behind. I smiled at the doctor as I started to root through the pack I had brought with me across the void; Cloths, a suit, parts to my Gauss rifle and, my laptop. I smiled to myself, that archaic piece of technology had gotten me out of and into more problems than I could count.

"Doctor?"

"Normally I would insist on some sort of diagnostic testing, but with your implants" she shook her head "I confess that I would have no idea where to start." She handed me my effects. I disassembled the gun checking over the parts. Making sure that the coils were still intact and the weapon itself was fully functional.

"_So Jeeves, what do you think?"_

_"Could be worse sir, they could have been hostile. Or non-human. Your implants can only protect you from so much and should it have come to pass that you killed the crew, I still would have needed time to learn the language had they not been human."_

_"True enough, we're going to have to limit our interactions for the moment…for now, download every relevant language onto my neural links. After that start hacking the bank accounts of criminal organizations and funnel them into the usual account setups."_

"_Finances already sir?"_

_"Money makes the world go 'round I doubt that's changed"_

_"A true Capitalist, Adam Smith would be proud"_

I felt a dull throb and a rush of images as Jeeves transferred the information from the internet to my implants and then into my long term memory.

"What was that" The Doctor looked at me with genuine concern, she'd picked up on the conversation that Jeeves and I had had."

"Slightly overwhelmed is all Doctor. It's a lot to process."

"So your implants…"

"Most of them are fairly obvious. Muscle and Skeletal enhancements make me much stronger and more durable, the genetic modifications alter my aging process…slowing or stopping it I'm not sure, they also increase my resistance to disease and auto-immune disorders. And the neural-synaptic interfaces allow me to bridge the distance between the synthetic and organic world."

"Incredible"

"A lifetime of work and a lot of risk"

I put my pistol back together placing it in its holster at my hip, my flask on my other side. I left my Gauss rifle in the med bay savoring the irony for a moment. If a firefight did ensue, my Gauss rifle would be next to useless in the close quarters of the ship. Shepard walked in as I was shrugging my jacket onto my shoulders.

"Dealt with everything then Commander?"

"Yep, let's go"

The ships was small enough maybe a skeleton crew of some 20 people though it could probably fit twice that. Two decks, the lower deck is where I can smashing through, the door to the engineering room was completely flattened and but the cargo doors at the back of the hold showed some minor damage damage. Guns lined the one wall, below them lockers stood mostly empty. A soldier was there tinkering with weapons. I made a mental note to come back down and mess around with the guns. My Gauss rifle was good for long range encounters but I would need something more…visceral for when things got up close and personal.

"_Jeeves once this tour is over download all the gun specifications you can find"_

"Of course"

We headed into the engineering room.

"Adams, this is James our newest unofficial crewman"

I took his hand. He had hands like spades, calloused palms and chipped nails, not the kind of person who spent his time eating powdered doughnuts in ballrooms.

"You also do the maintenance on the APC?"

"Yes, I keep the Mako running smoothly. And recently I've also become the door repair man" A grin shooting down his otherwise serious demeanor "You're lucky to be aboard the Normandy, finest ship in the alliance."

"I'll have to take your word for it." I grinned

Adams laughed, deeper than expected. "If the captain trusts you that's good enough for me"

"Thank you Adams, I hope to show that I deserve that faith."

"Oh these are yours" he reached into his uniform pocket pulling out a pair of ivory dice, the same dice I threw in the twilight zone. "Hit me in the head with them right before you came flying out" He laughed "scared me more than anything else ever has" He tossed the dice to me

I smiled, in his shoes I probably would have felt the same "I'll try to give you advance warning if I ever do something that stupid again" I replied as I snatched the dice from the air.

Despite knowing next to nothing about him, Adams seemed like a decent enough sort. He would follow people into hell if he trusted them and I got the feeling that, irrespective of his opinion of his commanding officer, he would do his duty to the end. I followed the same pattern of introductions with the other crew members. They were, by and large, more of the same. People who had a demonstrated history within the military, sure there were some personal differences but…they all had the same basic traits. A spotless record, excellent combat abilities and, mental stability. I also resolved to grill Kaiden about Biotics as well as experiment with them on my own. They had the potential to make fighting and killing so much more interesting and also lower the risk. The missions that I had done for the government and the Hangmen would have been so much easier with Biotics. Almost all the infiltration could have been resolved in an instant.

What I really wanted to see was the cockpit…if a spaceship has a cockpit. Either way, this ship felt too normal to me. Artificial gravity was always more of a pipe dream than an executable reality. Centripetal force would never have worked on a space ship of this size…actually it never would have worked on any spaceship period. So the idea of seeing space flashing by or whatever it would do excited me, truly new experiences had become rare to me. I didn't know what to expect but when Shepard brought me up to the flight deck, past a map of the galaxy, and into the cockpit…I was dumbstruck, awestruck and quite literally star struck. The vastness that lay before me…I had seen it in the Twilight Zone, but this was different. The Twilight zone was abstract, it was quite simply a depiction of the universes that existed, possibilities, places that could be, I had no personal connection to any of them. This was through my own eyes and it was beautiful, everything that lay before me was a possibility, an unread story, an undiscovered land. And I stood on a spaceship with no idea of where I was going or how I was getting there. I stood there in disbelief. I pulled my flash out of its holder took a swig and offered it to Shepard.

"Against regs…but today's been one hell of a day" She upended the flask and passed it back to me.

"Oh yeah" I nodded and chuckled "Happy fucking birthday to me" as I threw back the rum down my throat with the galaxy before me.


	4. Polite Conversation

He doesn't care anymore. When I look him in the eye there are no emotions. He eyes used to laugh no matter how grim things got but now...now his eyes are just empty. It's just a...I don't know how he thinks anymore. In Darkhan he regretted everything, he regretted what we had to do hated that we couldn't save everyone. I could tell, we all could. But now he moves and talks with such cold indifference. It scares me...I don't know how long I can keep doing this for. I see them at night, I don't see the faces thank god. But in the dark when I try to sleep that's when I hear the names whispered in my mind. The excuses I make to myself don't hold up in the dark and they know that. Taunting me, tormenting me. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up for. I can't make myself that cold even if I tried even if I wanted to.

\- Josef de Moritz 2021

* * *

I turned from the front chuckling to myself…life was incredible at times, wondrous, mysterious…and so fucking cliché. I shook my head, of course the day that shit hits the fan is my birthday, I laughed under my breath my life was a made to be made into a movie. Because what is a movie but life with all the dull bits cut out? Hell if anyone had ever made a movie about my life, there wouldn't have been all that much to cut out. Sure there were less insane periods and times when things were more normal, but I always liked to consider those times "character development" phases. And now I could make a sequel in a new galaxy, I exhaled and smiled; life was good.

"It's your birthday today?" Shepard asked interrupting my little bout of reflection

"Hmm?"

"Your birthday is today?"

"Yep"

"Aww, hey that's _nice_ and how many candles did you blow out?" The pilot turned to look at me, sarcasm dripping from the corners of his mouth.

"None, buckshot sandwiches make a poor substitute for a cake." I smirked inwardly at the rapid change in his expression. "Now… who are you?" I was torn between two sides of curiosity. On one hand, I wanted to get to know everyone and speak to the crew and see what made them tick. But at the same time I had information that needed collecting and things that needed learning. Interacting with people was almost impossible when I was downloading information to my implants.

"This is flight lieutenant Jeff Moreau but he usually goes by name of Joker, Joker…"

"Makes sense, a little face-paint and he'll fit right in at a children's birthday party." I commented my sense of humor dry from lack of use. Shepard grinned, hiding her expression from him.

"Joker this is James, our newest addition."

He scowled slightly, before brightening "Wait, you're the guy who flew out of the drive core and scared the hell out of the Captain. Nice job, I didn't think anything could scare him like that. He was pale as a sheet…well as pale as he can get anyway." I took the offered hand, I like sarcastic bastards. They made even the tensest situations slightly more bearable, if only because they were usually close by enough that you could yell at them for being sarcastic which did wonders for blood pressure.

Shepard and I walked down towards the back of the ship, I took in the consoles around me. The monitors were holographic and the holographic keyboard type of thing seemed only to be there for reference purposes. Each soldier was wearing gloves, I assumed to interact with the computers.

"Haptic Adaptive Interfaces" Shepard indicated towards the terminals "Special gloves let you use a virtual keyboard and the screen is projected at head height."

"Huh, interesting" My implants outstripped this technology by far, but I had never succeeded in creating anything that could be mass produced or be used by the general population. Even outfitting the half dozen or so hangmen had been a bitch, between the cost and side effects… they were unusable by the general population. These…these would have made everything so much easier. We could have had everyone wired instead of just the cyber ninjas. The holographic technology was intriguing as well. What I had managed to design was cumbersome and useless as far as real application was concerned, an ENIAC to a mid-21st century computer.

"More advanced than what you're used to?" She asked looking at me.

"Yes and no" I paused briefly, her eyebrows furrowed clearly unbelieving.

"You were more advanced a hundred years ago?"

"Like I said, yes and no. Holographic technologies like this were a pipe dream. They didn't really exist in any truly usable form. Sure it could be used to project either static images or active ones, but those required specialized systems. Not all too expensive really but they were useless as far as practical applications went. It did wonders for art, the artists' vision could be projected in three dimensions and sculptures did become considerable more…eclectic and shows could be broadcast to everyone as thought they were all in studio. Cute but" I shrugged "...not good for much more."

"Show when does the yes part come in" Shepard interrupted

"Patience commander, patience" I let my voice list slightly upward and grinned slightly when Shepard rolled her eyes "Those gloves that they're wearing" I gestured to the soldiers sitting in front of the computers "the most covert operatives had something similar implanted in their skin. They could interface directly with machines and control any part of the system so long as there was even a tangential connection to the point of entry."

"Bullshit"

I walked over to one of the vacant terminals putting my left hand close enough to the terminal for a spark to jump across the gap. I could have asked Jeeves to do it but that would have felt like cheating. Besides I figured that if I was going to get back into the thick of things I should probably have a grasp on how electrical systems worked in this universe. I felt my arm go rigid as the current flowed up the nerves into my brain and the connection was established. Everything swam, a psychotropic moment went by, and I was in the system. It was strange, my conscious mind was inside the machine but I could still perceive everything that was happening to my physical body but in a way that was reminiscent of being under water. Sounds were disjointed and speech was all but incomprehensible, I was vaguely aware of Shepard trying to speak to me but beyond that nothing. I was inside the ship, I saw everything it did and felt everything it did. It was amazing I had 360° vision, I could see the void unfolding in front of me as space flew by. Stars, pinpricks of light in the vast darkness of space, innumerable solar systems, and unknown galaxies, all went by in an instant. The size of the universe, its unfathomable vastness was something I never really truly understood but this? This was glorious. The feeling of space was a strange one, digital stimuli produced by the sensors covering the ship's hull was converted into biological equivalents. But what did nothing feel like? Not the absence of feeling, but the feeling of nothing. It was strange but I couldn't devote my attention to it fully, more than one agent had lost their minds inside a machine. Free of their organic body, it was a sirens song: to stay behind in the machine and abandon humanity and all of its weaknesses. Unfortunately, the mind is connected to the machine and not actually in it, which lead to their inevitable deaths: either by gunfire or through neglect. But here from my position inside the Normandy I could have destroyed the ship in innumerable ways; Vented the ship, overloaded the engines, locked Joker out of the controls or Adams out of the engines I sighed internally. It was tempting but that would probably get me shot or at the very least severely damage my already fragile image in this new world. I settled for something more mundane but perhaps more amusing.

"_Hello sir, I must confess I was not expecting to see you here. Might I be of service?" _Jeeves spoke. I rolled my eyes, of course he was inside the Normandy with me. I should have expected that he'd move his non-critical software into the ship itself.  
_  
"No thank you Jeeves, I figured this was something that I should experience for myself"_

_"Shall I take control of your body in the interim?"_

_"Please do" I wasn't always a fan of leaving Jeeves in charge of my physical body but it was better than falling over should the ship bank, a sudden termination of the connection could have...devastating effects on the person inside the machine._

I let my mind wander flowing over the entire system. The VI's were interesting but their inability to adapt to situations outside their programming made them useless as far as stopping any true intelligence. I settled on the galaxy map, it was the perfect tool. Comprised of thousands of tiny little projectors it could be manipulated into projecting anything I wanted it to.

_"Jeeves… I lied. I need your help, I need you to recreate the scenes from the charge of the light brigade. I'll set up, The Trooper to play from my memories"_

_"Not what I would call childish sir"_

_"Have you been listening in on my thoughts"_

_"Well you are thinking them in my head"_

_"Your head!? Jeeves you're a guest! NOT a permanent resident."_

_"I would disagree sir. I spend just as much time here as you do. Perhaps we should consider it a time share?"_

_"OI!" I was stunned for a moment "I was here first!" The indignation ringing through my thoughts. The fact that I was forced to defend my own mind from my AI with the "I was here first" justification was pathetic._

_"We should continue this later sir, the commander is getting restless"  
_  
_"Fine" I grudgingly conceded that perhaps the systems of the Normandy were not the best places for an argument. I then proceeded to slap my mental self for rising to Jeeves's barb so easily._

I left Jeeves and began copying my memories into the database of the ship. I hoped that they didn't need that most recent planetary survey because that was deleted to made room for the data that Jeeves and I were transferring. It was one of the benefits of the implants, perfect memory, and total recall. I pulled myself out of the system leaving Jeeves to do the rendering, understanding holographic projectors was easy but figuring out how to manipulate them with that level of dexterity would have taken more time than I had, for Jeeves though it was as simple as breathing. I shook myself like a wet dog transitioning back into my body as a shiver ran up my spine.

"So?" The commander asked expectantly

"Patience commander, patience" I replied quietly "Do you hear that?" I gestured to the aft of the ship

"N….What is that?!"

"The charge of the light brigade and Iron Maiden, a classic that I don't expect you to know but please direct your attention to the galaxy map" I gestured to the scenes unfolding where the galaxy map had been previously projected.

"What…the….hell?" The commander trailed off, walking absently closer. I laughed, it's for moments like these that I lived. The laughter grew in volume and depth as gales overtook me, the expression of a shell shocked fish graced the commander's face. An expression I never thought a Special Forces officer could make. She turned to me grinning "Well you aren't completely full of shit"

"No" I chuckled "I usually try not to be"

"So who are you?" she asked still smiling.

I grabbed the railing as Jeeves suddenly re-entered my mind as the song and demonstration ended. It was too risky for him to stay to leave more of himself than the minimum in the system lest someone notice that all the VI's were working faster and more efficiently than before and that the power consumption from the core had increased. Everything spun for a moment, exhaustion and hunger had limited my capacity for the mental acrobatics needed to interface with technology.

I turned to Shepard "Tell you what, find me food and I'll talk until my face is blue"

"Start talking now and I'll find you some food"

I chuckled, once. Thinking as we walked down the steps into the main area of the Normandy.

"Who am I? God I haven't had to answer that question in a long time and it's a long story but…suffice it to say that I was a soldier for almost four decades. After I stepped back from the front line, I headed up a Laboratory and Industrial complex that eventually produced some part or another of almost everything that was used by society. We either made it or we designed it."

"Secret government funding?" Shepard asked as she handed me a plate of…something.

"Yes and what the hell am I looking at?"

"I have no idea, I threw together two of the rations that were at the top of the pile. Biotics usually have to eat more than normal people anyways, and judging by what you did to the engineering doors I'd guess that you were one. That on top of what you said you've gone through…seems like you deserve two rations." She shrugged, "besides whatever you don't eat I will."

"I see…Why do Biotics have to eat more?"

"Generating mass effect fields take energy." She snapped her fingers, an arc of energy forming between her fingers. Her face twisted in concentration, clearly maintaining the field was difficult.

"That hard?"

"Not really, the smaller the field the more difficult it is to maintain." Shepard closed her fist ending the impromptu display.

I nodded shoveling a spoonful of what appears to have at one point been some sort of chicken MRE and Mexican MRE. I was a combination that I thought should have been promising, and even if it wasn't, the MRE's had gotten pretty good by the time I left the military for an administrative role. So I figured that in two hundred years they would have only gotten better. But this was one of the times where I regretted ever asking god to make the MRE's back home better. He had clearly made them better in my universe at the expense of this one because it was one of the most awful things I had the misfortune of eating.

My revulsion must have shown on my face "Something wrong?" Shepard quipped raising an eyebrow

"No this fine, absolutely awful but fine" I grimaced, my hunger overruling all good taste.

"What did the military do after you killed that Vizier or whatever?"

"Nothing, there was nothing they could do."

"What do you mean?"

"They learned about it from the media "

"I don't understand"

"It's a bit heavy for light conversation Shepard, it's the kind of conversation I'll have when my blood has been warmed by copious amounts of alcohol."

"Fine, but I'll remember that the next time we're at a bar"

I chuckled twice shaking my head "You don't give up do you?"

"No"

"Good, you'll need that tenacity in the future"

She brushed my comment aside not letting herself get distracted from my interrogation "Why'd you enlist? Or is that too heavy as well" She asked a flicker of a smile in her eyes.

"Well…" I said heavily looking at the table playing with my cutlery

"Are you fucking kidding me?! Is everything that melodramatic with you?!"

I looked up grinning "Yes, yes I am" I laughed at Shepard's expression. "I joined for two reasons really I had a romantic view of the military, the experience, the prestige, the comradery bla bla bullshit" I spat "and of course they were willing to pay off my student debts in exchange for a freshly minted Trauma Surgeon" I shrugged "It wasn't bad I guess, what about you?"

"bla bla bullshit?" The commander asked raising an eyebrow

"You then me"

"Fine" she sighed pressing her eyes shut as though dredging up painful memories "I grew up in a slum on earth, my parents died or left when I was young. I never found out either way. I joined the gangs to survive." I could feel the muscles in my face twitch and spasm as she said that "I enlisted when I was 18 to get out."

I grimaced "The military always promises that don't they, a way out. All you have to do, is serve? Which city?"

"Detroit"

"Shit, Motown's still a slum?" I laughed. It was some comfort to me that at least that much was the same.

"It is if you don't have an education. The manufacturing came back and the people with it. Lots of rich people living above the smoke and smog. But they get there on everyone else's backs. It's the system, sucks until you win it." Shepard inhaled opening her eyes "But what did you mean when you said it's bullshit."

"Nothing all that interesting, I learned pretty quickly how little value there was in a grunt. During the fighting in Khentii and Töv provinces" I shook my head, now it was my turn to press my eyes shut "I was a surgeon back then…over half a million casualties on both sides during the fighting. By the time it ended, I had become more of an executioner than a surgeon."

_I pull the trigger._

_"Joseph?" I look over at my assistant "Record the cause of death as blunt force trauma to the chest crushing the lungs."_

_"Yes sir." He looks away as I pull out a small hammer bringing it down on the dead soldiers sternum._

"What do you mean"

"I mean wait here, I'll be back" I winked

I stood up from the table forcing the rest of the mush that Shepard fed me into my mouth. It was horrid, though not as bad now that rum soothed my palate. I walked into the infirmary dragging my pack out ignoring the doctor's questions, it was a hiking backpack, I had filled it years ago just in case I had to vanish from the lab in a hurry I could always count on having something with me. Alcohol, being one of the vices I possessed, was one of the thing I always carried generous quantities of. I walked over to Shepard placing a bottle and pair of shot glasses on the table in front of us.

"If I get in shit for this, you're buying drinks until one of us slip under the table." Shepard shook her head.

"You're drinking with a ghost, besides, we're not going to get drunk just mildly buzzed. And whenever I talk about Nagalkhan Ul and Darkhan just the memory is enough to make my blood freeze." I poured a generous measure of scotch into each glass.

"Where?" Shepard smirked as she took a glass

"It's in Outer Mongolia"

"Shit" Shepard laughed as we drained our glasses

"Yeah it was bad, cold as fuck all year round with a summer that lasts all of a month. But it was in Outer Mongolia that I learned how shitty it is to be a grunt. How expendable they are, how little they're worth to anybody."

"What happened"

"Do you really want to know? It's not a comforting story."

"I did ask didn't I?"

I grunted assent, offering her the bottle which she took without hesitation. I smiled internally, I loved people who threw the rules and regulations out the window. That was the fastest way to die; experienced soldiers are predictable, they'll know what's best and usually that's fine. But against equally seasoned opponents, that predictability becomes a liability. The best combination was the unpredictability of an amateur and the experience and grit of a veteran. Even based on the little time I had been around her I felt that Shepard embodied, almost radiated, a certain reckless power.

I picked up my glass, looking at the amber liquid, melancholy filling me "You have to understand a bit of history. In the mid 2010's, the mining industry exploded in Mongolia huge amounts of metals were discovered under the steppes. Western companies rushed in and bought up huge swaths of land to begin exploitation with the blessings of the Mongolian government later that year. It was only in the last year of the decade beginning of the next that the mining companies realized the true quantity they were sitting on. It was enough to double the planets suspected reserves and while the west toasted their foresight, China plotted. They had the oil fields of the Gobi Desert but…the idea that their effective monopoly on rare earth metals would be broken" I shook my head. Politics, at the end of the day everything came down to politics "They began to destabilize Mongolia and leaned heavily on the government to repatriate western assets in the country."

"Repatriate?" Shepard asked braking me out of my mind.

I threw back the liquor before answering "Reposes"

"Oh…OH!" I smiled thinly as realization dawned on the commander.

"Yeah, as if that was going to go over well. They're called rare earth metals for a reason. Russia used that as a pretext to invade and managed to secure the northern two thirds before China stepped in and stopped them" I shook my head "Russia was backed by western Special Forces and paramilitary groups, and German Soldiers in Russian uniforms who applied the most effective lightning campaign in history. They moved in before anyone else knew what was going on. By the time Beijing realized, the Russians were at the Chinese border." I gestured for Shepard to refill the glasses. "I graduated early that year and was sent over as a primary care physician, served a couple years in various small engagements in Outer Mongolia. Then the Nanite defuser was unleashed on the world. And everything went to hell" I threw back another double shot.

"The what?"

"It was a…cloud of Nanites that consumed plutonium and weapons grade Uranium. Destroyed nuclear weapons stockpiles around the world."

"So that's a good thing."

"No" I chuckled dryly "No it really wasn't, it made it possible for large scale wars to be fought without fear of a nuclear holocaust. Mutually assured destruction ensured that any wars were fought with maximum deniability. And the small skirmishes between paramilitary forces, who were patched up by uniformed medics, such as myself, were replaced by a buildup of national soldiers along the Mongolian line. It was the prelude to an all-out war. I hadn't really seen true fighting before then, most the fighting was small battles between paramilitary groups. A couple dead and a couple more wounded on each side, nothing that strained the system. But when the defuser was launched things escalated."

"How bad?"

"The Second World War all over again. The Chinese attacked first. I was 50 clicks behind the front line by the Bismarck line. Just outside the town of Darkhan when the Chinese attacked."

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why would the Chinese attack, if they already had metals…why?"

"Because of politics, like I said earlier they had an effective monopoly and it was breaking. And…they also knew that if the US, Russia and the European Union reached full militarization they would lose any advantage they had in numbers. China had a larger standing army but the reserves of Russia and the US were deeper." I took a breath before continuing "The initial attacks caught the Coalition off guard. They blew through the front lines without much resistance. It was when they reached the main line roughly along the main line roughly along the borders of Khentii and Govisum, two provinces in Mongolia, that they started to encounter heavy resistance. There were four thousand doctors and surgeons in the American Army and at the time only a fraction were in Mongolia to begin with. There were never enough surgeons even during peace time…and when the attacks started things became even more strained. We became executioners instead of surgeons. We started using frozen corpses as barricades and walls to protect the surgery from bullets and to act as insulation, both for sound and cold."

The fucked up thing was that even now I could go back and remember how I felt. The emotions that I suppressed to do my work and now I feel nothing. The rest of the soldiers shied away from the surgery, I suppose that made sense, we were using their dead brothers as sandbags after all. Covered but, the human bodies were still unmistakable for what they were. We had lost our feeling by then, we couldn't think of them as people but as numbers, otherwise the line of the dead and dying would have driven us insane. It was in Outer Mongolia where I started to lose my humanity, where the suppression of emotions started eating away at me.

"That's fucked up"

"Yeah it got worse…so much worse." I poured another two shots out of the slowly emptying bottle "The casualties were especially heavy during the first few days. Got lucky more times than I can count. I barely saw aircraft from inside the surgery, but at one point there was another load of casualties coming in that were sent in to us and as we opened the surgery, a Shenyang fighter was shot down and a massive chunk of the aircraft ended up plowing into the truck sending it rolling. Didn't kill the soldiers inside though, that took a while."

I pressed my eyes shut instinctively as the memory came forward unbidden.

_"Thank you Sargent." I take the medical report from the man, handing it off to Josef who starts triaging the patients based on what had been jotted down as their injuries and the steps taken by whoever had tried to keep them alive long enough to make it here. Some would be sent further north back towards Ulaanbaatar others, the most unstable, would be operated on here. I gesture to two of the soldiers from the truck to help carry back the bodies and bring them into the surgery. We bringing them in two at a time. I would have liked to carry them in faster but, everything non-essential had been taken and a fair amount of the essential stuff too. I take the back half, wanting to make sure that the soldier gets onto the stretcher without further trauma. We're half way back to the surgery, the injured man's head is inside when I hear the screaming. Not of people but of a jet coming down. It explodes, not even remotely close to the surgery or to the camp but inertia and gravity bring it the rest of the way. I take three quick steps and set the stretcher down, running back outside to see what was happening. A piece of a wing slams into the truck sending it rolling. It doesn't explode but it's crushed, mangled, a twisted mass of scrap. Some of the wounded are still alive and they are screaming in pain, panic and terror. I go back into the surgery with the patient, there is nothing I can do. At least I'll have a break, at least that.  
_  
It was the screaming that I remember most. Everything else is faded, almost to grey. But the screaming, the screaming cut through my mind, these weren't the screams or shrieks I could be numb to. Some things are fuzzy because of the drugs I was on, but the screaming...I woke up clawing at my face and screaming for months after. The screaming faded over time, but it took time…time and brutality. This was…unnecessary and that's what got to me, even after so long. The wholly unnecessary nature of that war.

"By the end of the first week we were out of painkillers, so we were down to using opium that I got off of smugglers who I'd stitched up. The tipping point was when both sides started using UAV's. The few paved roads went to shit so getting supplies regularly became almost impossible. Civilian casualties started mounting as well so regional hospitals filled with civilians which the local doctors prioritized. The government started handing out Speed and Amphetamines to the surgeons to keep us working. The government didn't care if we overdosed or got fucked up. They just wanted their people back in the fight. And with almost no time for sleep that became the only way for that to happen."

It was strange, the screaming and sobbing of dying soldiers had bothered me but being drugged so that I could work and put people back onto the front lines to die didn't.

"By the end of the fifth week Triaging became…brutal. We ran out of all the basics, we were back to boiling rags and giving people gags to bite on while we pulled bits of metal out of them. The Suvorov Line broke that night, the Chinese had the initiative and used it to full extent. It didn't long for things to really fall apart after that. About a week later the city of Darkhan fell and we abandoned the camp. The Geneva conventions protected us but the communications relays were targets and we could become collateral damage, strangely enough there were lots of accidents. Hundreds of medical personnel were being killed."

Shepard swore "Bastards!"

I shook my head "There were no saints in that war, everyone wanted some kind of advantage and if that's what it took then so be it."

"Still though, butchering doctors..."

I sighed before continuing my monologue. "We fell back to Darkhan Mountain where evacuations to Bagakhangai were taking place. The longest time I slept during that campaign was then. In Bagakhangai things were worse, they were further back from the front so it wasn't as much of a priority for resupply. It was also the nerve center for transport to and from the capital. So the consistent screaming of aircraft and the ever present UAV's set everyone on edge. To top it all off we had lost control of the Khentii province in the east as far west as Chinggis and all the provinces bordering China were almost completely lost. The front line was bending around the city threatening to cut it off, anything that could be spared was sent off to bolster those areas. Dundgovi and Govisum were war zones, the entire province was essentially one massive hellhole. There were four of us surgeons left from the Camp around Darkhan and another six were brought in from Ulaanbaatar. The Commanding Officer of the Camp one General Adams. He took us in and gave us a private brief before setting us to work. He told us that anyone we couldn't save, we were to execute. If we couldn't patch them up so that they'd survive the train ride up to the capital to be lifted to hospitals in Russia, then there was no point and we were supposed to kill them ourselves"

_I knock on the door entering as soon as I hear a response from inside. I'm better rested now than at any point before all this crap broke out so I could take in my surroundings better. The man sitting behind the desk reading what I assume are combat reports…he looks like a general and exudes this kind of martial prowess. His eyes though, his eyes capture my attention. So blue they are almost black, black and hard as obsidian. He gestures for us to take a seat, there are chairs enough for six of us. I'm in charge of the surgery so I take the seat closest to the general. He waits for us to be settled before starting to speak_  
_"Now I know that you're all experience here, most of you had experience before you got to our little slice of Heaven, or you've been baptized in fire and, probably both. This is the nexus for transport to and from the Capital east to Chinggis and west into Chinese occupied territory. I've set you up in the old schoolhouse, but there will be too many causalities and there aren't enough of you."_

_"Don't worry sir, we can handle it" I'm full of confidence buoyed by sleep and by the promise of a real building to work in._

_"No you can't. If you try to save everyone you'll be overwhelmed. When you get a list of casualties I want you to divide them into three groups. People that we can send on to Ulan, people that can be saved if they get attention here. And people who are going to die. Now, we don't have the space or resources to let our boys die comfortably so part of your job is going to be to end their suffering."_

_"We don't have the drugs to kill them quickly sir"_

_"No, but you have a handgun" The insinuation hung in the air for a moment while I processed what he had said. No, that can't be right, I must have misunderstood__. I tell myself that over and over as though that will someone change what he said. It doesn't I can't…_

_"Sir that's…" I struggle to find the words._

_"Monstrous? Barbaric!?" The general stands, rising to his feet slamming his hands onto the table. "You don't think I don't know that! Those are your orders and you'll carry them out!" He's roaring at us, I look back unflinching starring into the glassy eyes of the dead was worse, so much worse than any man could be. That alone seems to make him calm down, his voice becomes gentler. "If you try and save all of them you'll end up losing most. Wasting time and precious resources on people who are lost causes. Better kill some to save more. Besides you swore an oath "I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required"._

_"T-t-that's" I stutter like a fool, unable to come up with a response to him quoting my own oath back to me._

_"That's a bastardization I know, a perversion even. But it might give you some comfort in the weeks ahead."_

_"Sir!" Ibrahim stood, he shakes with rage, fear or disgust. I don't know "Sir I swore on the Declaration of Geneva. I will not use my medical knowledge to violate human rights, and what you are asking us to do is more than just a violation of hum rights! It goes against all decency."_

_"Sit down Ibrahim, I'll handle the executions." I feel old just so… tired. Resigned to what I must do to save even a few lives I look up at the general "So be it."_

"Son of a bitch!" Shepard's face had clouded over, her green eyes seemed to almost burn. Their intensity had become so much…stronger as I went on. But now I felt as though all I'd need was a magnifying glass and she'd be able to burn through the hull with her glare. The only outward signs of her rage was a slight, almost imperceptible, twitch and the intensity of her eyes. She could make even the most seasoned SEAL back down. She was the exact opposite of me when it came to anger. She could keep her temper contained and focus it on one poor SOB. I couldn't when I got angry enough I lost my mind to the haze. Hers was an admirable trait, my temper had gotten me into more problem than I could count. "What the fuck took them so long to get their shit together?"

"It was an unspoken agreement that the fighting would be relegated to Mongolia only. But of course neither side said that openlly so the entire line between China and Russia had to be defended. That siphoned off a lot of the available resources."

"Fuck" Shepard exhaled heavily leaning back in her chair. "So you got royally screwed?"

"Yeah, but had the fighting spread to Russia and China proper it would have been so much worse. The casualties would have been enormous." I put my pistol on the table "Same gun I used to execute soldiers, modified since then but the same gun. We tried, the gods know we tried to save them all but some just wouldn't make it and we didn't have the space to make them comfortable while they died. So we killed them. When we were high it didn't matter, it was the time in between. When we were given a few hours to sleep, that's when what we were doing really crept up on us. It was slow, insidious almost, I'd lie back close my eyes and then the circle of questions would begin, it ended when my body just quit and I passed out. It was the only rail link to the capital and to Russia. So it was given priority, the stream of the injured never ended. But it was also the only point in between that could be held so it became a veritable fortress. After a week…" I sighed "After a week of this, my assistant walked in to the surgery grinning like an idiot, he went up to the patient I was working on. He had been shot in the knee, that soldier wouldn't fight again but he'd live. I was finishing up restructuring the knee, glue and screws were holding the fragments of bone together. My assistant picked up my pistol, put it to his head and blew his own brains out"

_I stand in the surgery pull the trigger for the fourth time today. Another soldier dead, it's instantaneous, better than how he was before; in agony. I move on to the next patient, he's unconscious and I start stitching. It was simple enough, massive gash in his leg, the femoral artery is slashed. Kneecap was split as well. The bleeding was minimized but hadn't actually stopped and the knee had been ignored. I start on the knee, he must have fallen on a jagged something, a rock probably and split his kneecap. Nice transverse fracture, I insert pins into the tissue above and below the patella and attach tension bands to force the kneecap back together. I turn to the gash on his legs and decide to reopen the wound. It's quiet not just in here but outside too…or maybe I'm just focused. I'm stitching up the wound when Josef walks in, I don't notice his expression as he walks up to me. My pistol is on the tray by the last patient, I didn't even pull a cover over the remains of the man's head. Josef stares at the body I start talking to him, not sparing a glance in his direction, I'm focused on the patient. I look over and he's grinning, grinning like an idiot with my gun to his head. Before I can even twitch he pulls the trigger, the bullet passes through flesh, bone and brain before exiting and painting the wall and ceiling with gore, blood gushing out his nose covering the floor. A moment passes I hear the patient groan, I finish the stitches. The two bearers who hear the gunshot enter the room, they see my assistant on the ground and the body on the table, they look at me and I shrug. "He couldn't take it" is all I say before I return to the list. The list and the count, they dominated my life. The list of people who had arrived and the count of those I had killed._

_I eventually leave the surgery for the day. I fall into the chair that one of the bearers offers me._

_"How can we keep doing this Jeeves?"_

_"I don't know sir. We do it because we must. I did not and do not share the general's sentiments but...he is right"_

_"I know...but that just makes it all worse."_

_My head falls forward. I'm exhausted, the amphetamines are wearing off and I'm coming back down to earth. The bearers come closer and hand me a cigarette which I gratefully accept._

_"I'm sorry" One of them says looking at me._

_I look up at him "So am I, so am I" and it feels to me like this is the first time he's actually seen me. As though this was the first time that he realizes what we're going through, what it costs the surgeons to do the job we do. To be a butcher._

_I suicide the cigarette and admit to myself, in the darkest parts of my heart, that that's an option for more than that cigarette._

_"No it isn't, we both know that you won't."_

_"I know Jeeves, but I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't sometimes tempted. I need to get my head together Jeeves, sorry"_

_"I understand"_ _He replies and I pull the interface out of my neck and the earpiece out as well. I'm just so tired._

"Shit"

"Yeah, he couldn't deal with being an executioner…I felt bad for the soldiers though, there were two of them assigned to carry out the bodies of the soldiers who died. We tried to keep up the illusion that they died on the operating table but…the gunshots weren't always covered up by screaming aircraft or the sounds of the camp, even with the surgery being inside a building and the amount of noise in the area. But they knew, the bearers knew which soldiers had been shot and which ones had died on the table. Their expression though, I didn't have to call them in anymore. They heard anything out of the ordinary and they would come looking, for a corpse to carry out or a body to bring to a recovery ward in another wing of the school building. When they saw my assistant though, I think that was when they realized the toll it was taking on us, on the surgeons, who were ultimately responsible for deciding life and death. I didn't even spare him a glance I just gestured to his corpse"

"You were trying to save someone else."

"Yes that was part of it but at the same time…I didn't care"

"Oh…" Shepard trailed off, what else was there to say? What can be said to someone who lost their humanity?

"The only thing that changed after that was that the surgeons were instructed to keep out side-arms hidden and were to use knives to kill those that couldn't be saved."

Shepard said nothing, she just stared at me in utter disbelief. I smiled thinly, the inhumanity of that winter in Mongolia shook the world in a way that no other conflict had since the end of the Second World War had. I solved the morale quandary by pouring myself a drink.

"It was more humane really. Cradle the persons head as though you were checking for trauma to the head and neck. Slip the blade into the brain stem and into the brain itself. Death was silent and instantaneous. They didn't have time to know they were dead. It was also easier on everyone else, the people handling the bodies didn't have to pretend to not know what was happening. But for us, the knives made things so much more personal it was a new type of mental torture."

_He was in agony. There is nothing I can do, perhaps if he had gotten better care on the front…then I might be able to save him but…as is, he's bleeding into his lungs wheezing and chocking past the blood. Any movement causes him pain, I can't do much…I can't alleviate his pain, I don't even have the tools to seal the wounds in his lungs. I lift his head, telling him that I'm checking for spinal trauma. With one hand I cradle his head and, before he can move, I push the stiletto into his neck severing the brain stem and pushing into the brain in a fluid motion. He'd dead before he knows it, dead before he registers yet more pain. I look down at my bloodied hands, what kind of a surgeon am I?_

_The drugs are wearing off, I make to leave the surgery to try and sleep. Well…as well as I can given the whispers of the dead that claw at my mind. No such luck, more people, more victims of the blood pumps that politicians and greed had conspired to make. I stand aside letting the bearers carry the patients in, I still don't have a new assistant. Nobody volunteered. Ibrahim is handling the safer cases leaving me here alone. I see a man. He's fucked, fucked beyond all belief. Whoever stitched him up was an amateur. His body looks like it was used as a butchery table. Shrapnel has torn him apart lacerations everywhere, some deeper than others. Either the ride was awful or the med who stitched him up was drunk. He is bleeding heavily, there is no way I can justify fixing him. I lift his head to and reach for my stiletto, his shirt opens and I see his dog tag. I recognize the name.  
_  
_"Capet" I breathe.  
_  
_Ibrahim walks in. He doesn't look at me, nobody does anymore. "A lot of them were safe, we have regular soldiers stitching them up." I don't reply and he looks at me directing the two bearers to put his patient down "You can't save him, there are others that need you"._

_"Fuck off"_

_"We don't have that luxury...we need to focus on the ones we can save. If you save him how many others will die?" __His voice is level, it always is. Usually that helps things, gives the illusion of controll, but now...now it just fills me with venom. Does he think that I don't know? I'm the one who breaks every medical oath, the one who takes lives faster than any angel of death, the one who commits war crimes on a daily basis. And he has the presumption to lecture me about the count?!_

_I look at Ibrahim, I look through him. I pull out my pistol and pull the trigger. The bullet hits his man in the head, killing him instantly. "There" I say, "The count is satisfied".  
_  
_Ibrahim is yelling at me; cursing, questioning, raging. I don't hear any of it. I start working. I pull rouge pieces of metal from his flesh he's losing blood, I stat cauterizing wounds he is losing too much blood. I grab a needle and a tube. I'm O negative. I drive the needle into my arm letting gravity do its work and impromptu transfusion, it's ugly but it works. He's losing less blood now as the smell of gunpowder fills the air. I don't know how long it has been, I don't care. This one has to live. At one point he grabs my arms. I tell him what I'm doing, that I'm almost finished and that he should live. He grabs my arm and says "Thank you" and in a moment of clarity recognized me and adds "brother". I finish my gruesome work and stagger out the doors. I signal to the bearers, tell them that he lived._

_If he was here, that meant that she would be too. I find her pacing outside the school, smoking. She sees me and starts to run towards me. She stops dead and just stares, covered as I am with gore but it's more than that, she looks into me. How different I must have looked from the man she had last seen only a few months earlier. I must look like a spectre to her, a ghost. She walks up to me and asks __"What happened to you"  
_  
_I pat her head, something I had done for years. She smacks my hand away. "Don't pet me, I'm still not that kind of bitch". It doesn't get even the faintest of smiles out of me.  
_  
_"He'll live" I say and stagger towards the corner that I usually sleep in. I can't sleep in the barracks I can't look the soldiers in the eye. How many of them would I recognize if I did? How many of them would I kill later when they end up on my table?  
_  
_I hear her say "Thank you" but I'm too tired to care. Too tired of everything. At least her war was over for now, and she'd go home with her heart intact. But that other man…whose heart did I shatter?_

_I walk to my corner the sheltered nook I sleep in and collapse on the hard ground, my eyes facing the sky. Under the clear skies of the land of eternal blue sky I close my eyes, only for the sky to be replaced by the void. I had spent so long looking into the eyes of the dead, now when I close my eyes all I see is the void. Stare long enough into the void, and the void will stare back into you. And stare back it does. All I see when I close my eyes are the dark glassy eyes of the dead, their whispers circle my mind and seem to ask "What kind of man are you?"_

"How long did it last" The anger had faded, her voice was quiet almost a whisper. She reminded me of the people in the courtroom during my trial. People who didn't want to know but couldn't or wouldn't ignore what had happened. People who were trying to wrap their heads around what had been done.

"A couple months but it was only really bad for three weeks after Darkhan fell. That was probably the worst it got. The Western Coalition finally managed to slow the Chinese onslaught and began to push back. I was transferred to Ulaanbaatar, which was the first sense of normalcy I'd had since I was lifted out of Darkhan. The war ended about six months after that when social uproar in the West forced the politicians to try to look for a way out. A week later, spies and black ops teams managed to incite a revolution against the Communist Party in the Urghur provinces of China and in Tibet, that coupled by the collapse of the North Korean regime forced China to the table as well." I chuckled "An ocean of blood, an ocean of blood spilled to come back to the same spot. In the end, the borders were the same as at the beginning."

"At least you got to go home."

I barked a harsh laugh "Yeah where I was put on trial for crimes against humanity and war crimes. Nothing came of it but…it was one hell of a blow after all was said and done. I was one of the only surgeons from Khentii or Töv who survived. Ibrahim was found dead when the Chinese took to bombing field hospitals and claiming targeting errors after the fact. His death hit us hard, throughout everything that happened he somehow maintained his humanity. That's why there were so few surgeons to go around, it was cold comfort but at least we weren't intentionally being worked to death. And I was the only surgeons who was assigned the task of executing soldiers who didn't end up committing suicide either during or after the war."

_"You've chosen to represent yourself. Strange given the circumstances. Repeat for the jury the plea that you've entered." The judge looks at me expectantly. I am being tried in a civilian court so that if I get off the military can still have a crack at me. The politicking makes me sick. I had gone through it with my lawyers and superiors before. I am supposed to say that I'm plead guilty…but I'm done. I'm done playing their game, I'm done being fucked over so that someone else can use the blood on my hands to get a star on their jacket. The blood of good men who only did what they were told and believed in their country. The blood of boys who were just looking for a better way than gangs and crime. The blood of men whose spirit once burned with pride and love . The blood of my assistant and Ibrahim and good doctors whose minds broke under the weight of the coffins on their conscience whose lives ended in suicide. I'm so tired…_

_"Not guilty your honour" The court erupts, the charges against me were…many, varied and complete bullshit. The judge looks surprised, he'd been briefed on the outcome beforehand, the brass are confused."_

_"I do not deny my actions, nor do I dispute that under any other circumstances their criminality. I do however dispute the fact that it was done without the knowledge or instruction of my superiors."_

_My mind is racing, a psychotic laugh fills that back of my mind. The rage that I had kept down for years was boiling to the surface. I want to kill, I want them all dead. I want to plaster the walls with THEIR lifeblood. I…want…them…to…die! I push the animal back, down for a little while longer. A psychotic laugh escapes my lips, eyes wild._

_"I am a soldier, a surgeon but still a soldier. I wanted to save them all and I would have tried to. We all would have, every surgeon would have done their duty as best they could but. You're told that you have an obligation to disobey any order that violates the constitution or in the case of medical staff, human rights. However, in a war you don't have that luxury. If I had refused the order I was given, how many more would have died due to a lack of a surgeon and his team."_

_"I'm sorry. Repeat that"_

_"I was ordered by my commanding officer to carry out the mercy killing of any soldier whose injuries would have been too time consuming to repair and who wouldn't have survived the trip to Ulan."_

_"You were ordered to execute the soldiers?"__ The judge's face is pulled together in disbelief. Everything had been set up, to give them that ultimate protection of deniability. The brass denied any knowledge and the reports that we had been told to falsify, under the auspices of given the families comfort that their loved ones died heroically in battle, only served to corroborate their stories. The first casualty of war is truth._

_I turn over to the officers and generals sitting in the audience, there aren't many but there are a few and look them in the eye as I say my next word. "Yes" _

_By this point I've completely flipped the script. I see General Adams in the gallery. His face is a twisted mask of rage and fear. The judge brings his gavel down silencing the court. I ignore it and continue "No?" I laugh again "Do none of you remember the orders you gave? Do you not remember what you told me in that cold office those long months ago? Perhaps this will jog your memory." I play a recording of my first conversation with Adams._

_The fragile order that the judge managed to enforce shatters as people hear a conversation the took place in a freezing field command on the far side of the world. The judge slams his gavel down trying, in vain, to restore order. The trial is being broadcast internationally, I can hear the streets, it does not sound pretty. This is a high profile trial and millions were watching, and now millions are once more enraged at discovering that they've been betrayed once again. Now I place my faith in my doctors, spin doctors but doctors all the same. I'm escorted away by bailiffs, the brass are escorted out by private security forces. From my cell I can hear the start of what will be glorious rioting outside, people are out for blood. I laugh all the way to my cell, I laugh as the city is consumed by violence, and somehow I feel whole. If only for a moment. _

_Two weeks later I'm cleared of charges._

_"The only good that came of it was that I was deployed to Honolulu with the Air force and my fiancee and my old squad got transferred there as well."  
_  
"Silver lining?" Shepard asks

_I land. It's warm. It's beautiful, no ice, no snow, no barren steppe. Everything is medley of colour the airport is a blur. Customs officials are ready to greet me, they take me aside into an emptier section of the airport. I'm not a criminal, but at the same time…there are still people who hold me responsible for everything. People who refuse to believe that the whole system they placed their faith in was evil, or people who thought that I should have been tried and hung for going along with . I pass through the airport without any trouble. A few of them ask questions about what happened. I answer, part of me doesn't care anymore, part of me just wants to be done…with everything. I walk into the main concourse, she's not there…of course she isn't I'm a day early. I see Capet and White waiting for me. I smile._

_"You had us worried. I thought they were going to lock you up in a room with nice soft padded walls." He jokes, smiling. It's not perfect though, the scar that runs across his face damaged the muscles leaving his smile more crooked than a madman's mind. He pulls me into a bear hug clapping me on the back._

_"We always knew you'd end up in a Asylum, didn't think it would be that way though." I pat white on the head._

_"Not going crazy just yet." I quip_

_She hits me in the shoulder "I'm still not that kind of bitch"_

_"You're not any kind of bitch love" Capet kisses her._

_"You two are disgustingly adorable."_

_Jokes…old as our friendship. It is normal, with everything that had been happening I had almost forgotten what that was like. It is good. I decide, I need more of this._

_We leave the airport together catching up…avoiding all the hard topics. Capet's movements were slightly choppy, I suppose that that makes sense given the degree of injury he sustained during the fighting. As we drive we keep talking about everything and nothing. About this, that and, something else. The island, the people, and the houses we've been assigned. I learn that the military has been generous, giving us top housing in exchange for keeping our mouths shut and not causing trouble. It's a nice neighborhood, right on the coast but somewhat out of the way. Palm trees and green grass, it's almost like 50's suburban America had been brought out here just for us. My house is at the end of the street, a car is parked in front of it. She'd brought my car over, I can't help but smile. So many memories are attached to that machine, happy memories. I leave Capet and White by the sidewalk as I head up the steps. I ring the doorbell and wait. She opens the door, screams, and launches herself at me, she start crying wrapping her arms around me. I pull her in and as I inhale, the smell takes me back to before. It reminds me of how things were supposed to be, how things were supposed to go and as I go back I start to cry silently the tears rolling down my face. I cry for the living and the dead. For the people I killed and the people who died in spite of me. I close my eyes tears rolling down my face silently begging the voices for forgiveness, begging the ghosts that have been haunting me for release. As I cry I feel the exhaustion almost melt away, the tiredness that had sat in my bones, rested at the core of my being slip away.  
_  
_"I love you" she whispers after a while. And I smile…for the first time in a long time I really smile._

"Always" I smiled "But anyway now it's my turn. What happened on the planet you were on? Just the mission details I'll read up on the terminology later."

"How much Liquor is left in that bottle?"

"Not much"

"Good there isn't much of a story to tell." I rolled Shepard the bottle letting her drain it. Gods, the woman could handle her liquor, she'd be an expensive date I grinned.

"What?"

"You'd be one hell of an expensive date"

She laughed before becoming much more somber "Well…" Her speech seemed heavy "Things pretty much went FUBAR right from the get go. I landed with Kaidan and Jenkins"

"Jenkins…I don't recall meeting him"

"No, he was killedby geth drones less than an hour after we landed."

"Shit…I'm sorry"

"Yeah, it was…hard, he was a good soldier." She laughed at a memory "Before we went planet side he kept telling me how he couldn't wait for the proper action to start,"

Now it was my turn to grin, that going planet side was something so normal. That was something I never thought I'd be in a position to experience.

"Eden prime was…is… an agricultural colony. The people live in massive Archologies so the rest of the planet is mostly either farmland or forest. Our objective was to secure a Prothean artifact that a research team had unearthed and bring it back to the citadel.

"Protheans? Citadel?"

"I thought you were going to look it up later?"

"Fuck that, later I'm going to go to the med bay and passing out"

Shepard grinned "The Protheans were a highly developed species that disappeared around 50 000 years ago. They created the mass relays and the citadel. The citadel is the heart of galactic government, it's a massive deep space station."

"And the mass relays?"

"It uses the mass effect to reduce the mass of an object to almost zero so we can travel between relays almost instantly…"

"Huh…" The opportunities that presented were…incredible to say the least. "Please continue"

"Anyways, we were sent to obtain a Prothean artifact and…well this was supposed to be a stealth mission, we left all the heavy weapons and armor on the Normandy. So we were trekking through the forest with basic armor and weapons. Geth ambushed us a few times but both Kaidan and I are Biotics so we were able to compensate a bit."

"Geth are susceptible to Biotics?"

"Yep. Singularity and then a warp field send em flying. And they can't do anything about it because they aren't organic. We found Ashley as we approached the dig site."

"Ashley was the one who was messing around with the weapons in the hold?"

"If by messing around with, you mean maintaining. Then yes. But on Eden Prime she was being chased by Geth, her unit was supposed to protect the researchers. They were caught by surprise and wiped out, with the exception of Ashley. Once we destroyed the Geth hunting her, she led us to the site where the Artifact was located."

"Mission Accomplished?"

Shepard chuckled dryly "No, it had been moved. And when we went to the camp where the researchers had been working, it was empty of people but full of…I dunno what they were exactly, I mean they were people but…they had been changed, sort of…fused with mechanical parts. Part human, part machine, oh and incredibly hostile. Dealt with those things and in one of the buildings there were two scientists, turns out that they moved everything to a spaceport planning for our arrival."

"The best laid plans."

Shepard let out a harsh laugh "Yeah, fucked everything up. On our way there Nihlus had gotten shot in the back of the head, an execution."

"Guess he couldn't be saved?"

"No" Shepard smiled thinly as she caught the joke "…he was supposed to evaluate me for entry into the specters. And we found out from a dockworker who, get this, only survived the attack because he was sleeping behind a stack of crates at the back of the port"

"Nice" I grinned, lady luck was a feisty bitch. "But um…what are specters?"

"The specters are like…sort of like the Hangmen you were talking about. They work outside of any government and answer only to the council that controls the galaxy. They do all the dirty work that the council can't admit to doing."

I chuckled, some things never do change. Politicians always need someone to do the dirty work. They always want someone to do the abominable things and then want to be able to deny everything. Having their cake and eating it too.

"Nihlus was dead so the only way through to the spaceport was by a mag-rail. When we got there the geth were setting charges to level the colony. To try and cover their tracks I guess, I don't know."

"I assume you saved the colony"

"Obviously, I wasn't going to let innocent people die." I smiled, I had been like that once. "That's where we saw the artifact. It was…glowing, giving off this strange green light. Kaidan got too close to the thing and it started sucking him in…I checked him out of the way. The fucking thing ended up pulling me in though. Next thing I know I'm getting all these visions and woke up here"

"You're lucky then."

"How?" Shepard spat bitterly "I lost one of my team and failed my mission"

"Perhaps, but you were only out cold for a couple hours. The last time I took memories from somewhere else I was in a coma for three weeks and was hemorrhaging into my brain and body cavity."

"I guess…"

"Silver lining Shepard"

Now it was her turn to smile thinly "Always" .

The silence held for a few moments as we were both preoccupied with our own thoughts and memories. I didn't really feel mine truth be told. I remember them clearly, I remember how I felt but looking back now I don't care. I don't think I really cared then either, especially by the end. I was just so tired…perhaps this new universe would do more for me than I anticipated.

"You did all that fighting, hacked your way past so many geth…How the hell did you not get shot?"

"Kinetic barriers."

"Kinetic what'"

"Oh yeah…Shields." I spat my drink out choking on half of it. I roll out of my chair coughing like a half drowned man. Shepard just sat in her chair and poured both of us our last drinks.

"Son of a…" I dragged myself up to the table still struggling to breathe "Shields"

"Yeah, they're lifesavers. Although... they do need time to recharge after a firefight."

"You lucky bastards." I laughed, shields…this universe was a strange one.

She laughed "Yeah I guess it would make a difference if you're not used to fighting with them." Shepard paused for a moment "Yeah…I can let myself get shot a few times without having to worry too much. But you…"

"Yep" I interrupted the Commander "For us getting shot was a problem and something to be avoided at all costs. Made firefights a much more high risk affair"

"I can imagine."

"But that raises another question…Biotics…how do they work"

She grinned calling to Kaidan to come join us. "Done sharing war stories?" He had a strange voice…average in a lot of ways but quiet. As though he couldn't raise it even if he wanted to. To top it all off, it sounded as though someone had pulled a knife across his throat when he was young, his voice had a gravelly undercurrent that reminded me of a police sergeant I knew.

"For now…we're out of alcohol" I gestured to the empty bottle. "And I don't think Shepard could get away with drinking another bottle."

"Neither of you should be drinking. It's against regs" He pointed at Shepard first and then turned to me "and it won't help you build a reputation."

"I'm a ghost. I can do anything" I winked at Kaidan

"Right…" He turned to Shepard "Did you need something Commander"

"I was going to explain how Biotics work. Thought you'd want to be around to help. You know the science behind it better than I do."

"Alright" Kaidan turned to face me "Makes sense that you know how to use them, or at least the principles behind them. Given what you did to the cargo bay doors. Well to start with Biotics develop in Eezo rich environments. I assume that you got yours because of how you entered this universe. In utero, Eezo will concentrate in the nervous system, if that doesn't happen the pregnancy doesn't usually survive to term. The strength of the Biotic is relative to the concentration of Eezo in the nervous system that's why, as a rule, the Asari have the most powerful Biotics. Thessia is so rich in Eezo that every Asari has the nodules and can use Biotics almost on an instinctive level. In earth most Biotics are made as opposed to born."

"How so? I thought you said it was an innate ability"

"Yeah but Earth doesn't have Eezo so exposure has to be…accidental" The way he stressed that last word made me think that he didn't believe in accidental exposure.

"You don't think it was an accident."

"I'm not saying that Conatix detonated cores over cities and colonies on purpose but…they were on scene _really_ quickly afterwards. Conatix being the company that was originally responsible for researching biotic potential in humans. Beside the point though, nature only plays a certain role. Training, focus and, willpower play an almost larger role in determining how powerful a biotic becomes."

"Training?"

"Heh, yeah…different teachers have different strategies on how to get students to perform. Mine…he was an angry son of a bitch either made you into one hell of a biotic or you ended up dead. Usually though, it's some combination of intense mental training to increase discipline and muscle mnemonics to... attach if you will certain abilities to certain movements."

"So how do you…activate, it that's the right word, your abilities."

"Implants and Amplifiers. The implants allow us to focus the Eezo nodes in our nervous system to generate effective fields."

Kaidan paused long enough to levitate the bottle that Shepard and I had drained and crush it to powder. Show off or not it was an impressive display of power, one that could be used to devastating effect, it seemed that another limiting factor on Biotics was the creativity of the Biotic themselves.

"The amplifiers are used to amplify our abilities, making the fields that we can generate naturally much stronger. The Asari make the best amps but the new L3's are a…a step forward."

"A step forward from what?"

"The old L2 implants…they drove Biotics insane. Or just gave them migraines, if they got lucky. I was wired with the L2's, I am one of the lucky ones. I get migraines if I let myself get too stressed out. Others though…they lost their minds. Some because of the pain and others because of the hallucinations."

"I see…what sets off the implants though. What's the prime mover if you will?"

"Electrical impulses from the brain. Everything else works to focus and intensify the fields that the brain generates."

"What can Biotics do?"

"Anything really" Shepard jumped in "It's mostly a matter of practice. Biotics work by using fields that alter mass. There are three types: Telekinesis, Kinetic Field and, Distortion. Most soldiers with biotic abilities focus on one of the three branches that mesh best with their combat styles. But Soldiers who are powerful enough, like me, are given training in all three fields making us much more dangerous than the average soldier. Kaidan is a sentinel, training in Telekinesis and Kinetic fields."

"Right, sentinels are trained to use both Biotics and Omni-tools" A device on Kaidan's wrist glowed as he spoke "to optimize our battlefield performance"

"So…impulses from the brain are used to trigger the fields which are then harnessed by implants and then amplified."

"Yes but it takes complete control over the nervous system and years of practice to be able to do anything significant."

I nodded and smiled to myself. I didn't have practice…or training… not with Biotics anyway. But I did have a synthetic nervous system running parallel to my organic one, so it made sense the running a current through those nerves should have a similar result, and I did have complete control over my synthetic nervous system. I'd also be able to run a larger current though my body which I thought should get around my lack of implant. Everything else could come later but now…now I wanted to tap into the power, see how it felt to be able to control nature instead of just bending and twisting it. I had a will and focus that had been tested over and over again until I became single minded, consumed by desire. If I wanted something it would happen, even the universe will bend to me

"What's so funny?" Shepard looked at me, head tilted almost comically to the left

"I have an artificial Nervous system Shepard. I have complete control over that. So I figure…well I don't know what I figure but it'll be interesting to say the least."

I closed my eyes, shutting out the rest of the world. Focusing on…well something, anything that felt strange. Apparently I was successful, because my next realization was that my hands felt somewhat heavy. I was jerked out of my mind by the sound of screeching metal. I looked to my hands and they were glowing, haloed by purple light. It dissipated slightly as my focus shifted from creation to inquisition, it was a strange sensation, but not altogether unpleasant, just something I had to get used to. I rested my arms on the table again causing the metal to scream in protest as it bent further.

"I see" I muttered under my breath while Shepard shook her head and Kaidan stared at me unblinking "Mass effect…ah…now I understand…interesting."

And it was, the field was increasing the mass of my hands exponentially but I only experienced a portion of the increase, that or the weaves in my bones and muscles were compensating but no…because then the cartilage of my wrists would be destroyed.

"Interesting" I looked up at Kaidan "So the person creating the feedback experiences a sort of feedback?"

"No, not usually." Kaidan was, to put it mildly, suprised.

"So then it's a result of my existing implants. Huh…not bad, I'm going to have to experiment with this later…" I grinned, punching things would get much more interesting "So why'd you join Kaidan?" I asked as I warped the metal again forcing it back into its original conformation.

"The dream I guess…"

"What? Save colonies, fight the good fight, find love?" Shepard teased

"Heh, yeah, yeah something like that…" I looked over to Shepard who shrugged in return. Apparently Kaidan wasn't the most talkative sort as far as personal matters were concerned.

Shepard pushed back her chair "I should go."

"So should I…a pleasure speaking to the two of you, thanks for the crash course. Though your culinary skills could use some work."

I stood from the table taking my pack with me and headed back to the med bay flopping on one of the bed operation table combinations. I focused again, willing the field into existence letting the power flow through me letting it coalesce around my closed fist. My understanding was limited but…this is something that I had to learn, something I had to understand.

_"Jeeves"_

"Yes sir?"

_"Find everything you can about Biotics, the potential practical applications are too high for this to be learned the old fashioned way. I need to understand this power as quickly as humanly possible and then some."_

_"I can find it sir but…I urge you to use caution, we don't understand the theory much less the potential. And Sir…it's a lot to learn. Transferring you the training methodology and theory at once will be…excruciating."_

_"Irrelevant, this information is worth it."_

_"If you say so sir…"_

Jeeves didn't approve I could tell as much but it would be worth it. Shepard and Kaidan knew the practical aspects but they weren't biotic trainers, their ability to teach would be limited. I'd have to learn as I went along and based of manuals Jeeves found on the extranet. This was no substitute for years of training, but I was confident in my own abilities to make up for the slack and that I'd be kicking ass in a matter of weeks. I just hoped that I'd have that kind of time. I closed my eyes confident that I'd wake up again for the first time in months.


	5. Coffee and Guns

"Whether we fall by ambition, blood or, lust. Like Diamonds we're cut with our own dust.

Do you know what that means?"

"I...I, I have no idea."

"Alright..well then how about this. Them that take the sword shall perish by the sword"

"The bible...Matthew 26:52. It means that people who live violent lives die by violent means. Just as you will. And once you die, the wages of your sins will be paid in hell."

"A pity that you recognize the bible but not classical playwrights, it's really a sign of the regression of humanity and our collective culture but! I digress. May god have mercy on those who die thinking that they were doing his work."

"You'd kill a man of the cloth?"

"If that man had already done the same to the spirits of his congregation then I see no issue."

"I have been a shepherd to my people in this difficult time

"Don't. Fucking. Lie. To. Me." Each word punctuated by a kick "I know what you and your associates orchestrated. There is no place in this world for you and your kind."

*A single gunshot can be heard.*

"Jeeves...mark down Father Damasus as deceased"

-From a recording taken from a destroyed church. The priests were under investigation for human trafficking and the sexual crimes that surround it. No charges were ever filled as they were killed before the investigation could be concluded. Based on the nature of the attack we assume that the Hangmen were involved.

* * *

I woke up…unfortunately. It wasn't the waking up that was unfortunate, I enjoy waking up. I only wished that I could have slept longer. The dream I had been having was so vivid, so real and, bizarrely uplifting. The second thing I noticed was how heavy my head was.

_"Jeeves, how long"_

"_Just over 10 hours sir"_

"_God damn it Jeeves! Why didn't you wake me?"_

"_Your stress hormones were only just beginning to fall back into normal ranges sir. I thought it best if I allow you to sleep so that you function at optimal capacity."_

"_I'm part machine remember? I always function at optimal capacity."_

_"Either you were tired or are getting old."_

_"So if I was supposed to be resting, why the fuck does my head feel like a dwarven clan is mining in my Cerebellum?"_

I could feel the familiar throbbing at the back of my head, Jeeves had downloaded something into my neural interfaces while I slept.

"_I took the liberty of downloading weapons specifications and schematics from the ship's databases. I also looked up the functionality of modern weapons."_

"_Ugh…well thanks I guess. We have something for my head lying around I'm sure."_

"_I have no idea sir."_

"_You have no idea?" I was perplexed, usually Jeeves was very good at keeping a continuous inventory and itinerary._

"_Perhaps you should open your eyes Sir."_

I opened my eyes to burning medical lights, confusion and pain replacing every other thought in my mind.

"_Fuck…you could have warned me…why am I on an operating table?"_

_He laughed in my mind "Sit up! you blithering idiot"_

I swore under my breath, my back sounded like a jackhammer as the vertebrae cracked one after the other. I wasn't used to sleeping on something that soft, even though this was an operating be it was still softer than the floorboards and ground I had gotten used to and considerably more comfortable than being cramped in a car overnight. I blinked a few times adjusting to the bright lights.

I swore and let myself fall backwards.

"Something wrong?"

"No doctor…I just assume that this is reality and not another dream"

"Unless you have very vivid and accurate dreams, then yes this is reality. If it is a dream, I would call it a wasted opportunity. Dreams really shouldn't mimic reality quite this accurately." she said with laughter in her eyes. She had shoulder length grey hair with bangs that fell over her left eye. Deep laugh lines around the corners of her eyes coupled with a soft English accent lent itself to her almost innate bedside manner.

I sat up again on the edge of the bed sighing with my head in my hands, part of me still couldn't believe how much luck I had had over the course of the last few days. Any further reflection was derailed by the throbbing in the back of my head. "Any Aspirin around here doctor?"

She chuckled and tossed me a bottle of pills "You know most people prefer to spend as little time in here as possible."

I shrugged "I've been on enough operating tables to not really care, besides you weren't planning to cut me up were you?"

"Alas I don't think the captain would have condoned an invasive procedure" She replied laughing properly this time "That doesn't mean I wouldn't want to. Your modifications truly are impressive…"

She trailed off, the silence punctuated by me grappling with the bottle of pills. I could build a rocket, design a plague, and infiltrate a military base all in the same day. But pill bottles always managed to confound me. I eventually managed to pop the lid off sending it to the floor. The sound startled the doctor into speaking.

"Actually…I do have a few questions."

I looked up from the bottle "eh?"

"Your spine and brain stem have been altered. The vertebrae interlock laterally and the metallic weave continues into the brain stem. Why?"

I grinned "Not much point of living forever if a simple hernia leaves you bedridden and the brain stem is particularly vulnerable to trauma. A quick cut or a sharp blow and your life is over."

"I see...your cells also seem to be purposefully malformed."

I tossed the pills back "Appreciate it doctor."

Whatever else had changed in the last two hundred years the pills had gotten much stronger, the headache faded completely seconds after I took them.

"_Jeeves, how much did you download?"_

"_Everything I could find without creating duplicates sir."_

_I groaned internally. Transferring that much information caused short term memory problems and was probably why the last day seemed more like a dream. "Do you have any idea how hard it's going to be to focus on anything properly for the next couple hours?"_

"_I do sir, I would however like to point out that you were the one who insisted on transferring the information."_

I grunted Jeeves was, as usual, correct _"Well I guess then with this in mind." I grinned at my own weak pun "It's time to find a new gun"_

"_Probably a good idea Sir"_

"_How far along are you with diverting funds?"_

"_Once I figure out how to break into the galactic banking system it shouldn't be all too difficult. The banking systems are interconnected so diverting a single credit from accounts will not prove a challenge. From there I can move it into some of the rogue states that still maintain tangential connections."_

"_How long?"_

"_Haven't the foggiest sir. I'm not familiar enough with the software yet…well I suppose I could force my way into the system but that would be about as subtle as wearing a name tag to a masquerade ball."_

"_Alright, keep working at it then."_

The elevator into the hold was simple: A platform set on rails. The walls were strange, it looked like someone had taken spare bathroom tiles and used them as decoration.

I took a moment to appreciate the hold of the ship which was, relative to the size of the ship, massive. It fit the Mako with ease, probably could have squeezed another four or five in the hold without a problem, it was also stereotypically dark, darker than the rest of the ship at any rate. The right wall closest to the hold door was covered in enough guns to arm a paratroop platoon to the teeth and still have leftovers. The left was a mess of crates watched over by a man in civilian garb, guess he was responsible for requisitions. That must have been an interesting job, getting things delivered or picked up in space, and the contact net that he must have had with various species…The age of discovery had been reborn in the stars.

This was one area where it seemed like the alliance hadn't cut costs. Weapons for every type of engagement conceivable covered the walls. I walked over to the lockers where Williams was working. She was still wearing her red and white armour. Based on its sleek profile I figured it wasn't intended for long drawn out firefights. Shields or not, if what Shepard said was accurate, sustained fire would chew through them and that armor was either deceptively strong or would be cut through like a laser would rice paper. Either way though it was interesting for me to observe soldiers wearing armor. It was a testament to advances in ultralight materials. To them getting shot once or twice was no big deal, for us getting shot was to be avoided at all costs. Soldiers in this age had shields and armor to deflect and absorb gunfire. And the race between arms and, armour manufacturers meant that weaponry had to evolve to become even more destructive.

"Chief" I nodded to Williams who was messing with a rifle which vaguely resembled some sort of fish "What _is_ that?"

"Avenger, standard issue assault rifle." She extended a gauntleted hand, which I took and immediately regretted. The handshake was quite literally bone crushing "Sorry, not used to shaking hands with civvies."

"Technically I'm a ghost" She rolled her eyes and returned to the bench.

I looked to the wall which was covered in a mess of guns. The information Jeeves had given me flowed across my mind as soon as I relaxed but since they weren't authentic memories making sense of them took a concentrated effort, if I relaxed too much, the torrent of information could and would cause seizures. Recalling natural memories was a simple task of thinking back and remembering; it was an unconscious process. Anything that was downloaded into my implants didn't have the connections that learning built up, the neurons were forced to branch rapidly to compensate for the memories that the reptilian brain was trying to create. This in turn could cause other short term memories to go forgotten or in extreme cases cause sections of the brain to die. But... that was the cost of taking shortcuts, excruciating pain or debilitating neurological issues along with a slight chance of death: greater the risk, greater the reward.

My eyes drifted to a heavy looking shotgun. The memories that Jeeves had created slid seamlessly into place and as they did a smile crept across my face. N7 Crusader, incredibly heavy for a shotgun at just over twelve pounds, it was worth every one of them though. The crusader was usable at almost any range since it fired slugs instead of a buckshot. It was hard wearing, reliable and rugged and apparently it was used by marines against slavers on a moon in an underground complex.

* * *

Memories rushed into my mind: Jeeves had found context.

Two voices I didn't recognize and Anderson were discussing something. Some kind of grand plan to hunt down and kill slavers on a lunar base that they used as a staging ground.

That was something I could agree with. I had committed almost every crime known to man: Civilian and, otherwise. But I drew the line at human trafficking. The ability to make free decision was one of the few things that differentiated humans from animals. But trafficking…that reduced the trafficked individuals to little more than animals and the absolute destruction of individual liberty was not something that I tolerated.

The feed jumped to a helmet camera. The commander was barking orders to an assembled group of marines, standing in a cargo bay similar but much larger than the one I was standing in. A short speech, the shouts of soldiers ready to catch a bullet for those that sent them to the moon, and a drop into the dust clouds kicked up by the bombardment from the cruisers in orbit. I started grinning like an idiot as the feed continued, slavers went down with craters in their bodies. The literally didn't see what hit them.

The commander looked down at the mangles corpse of a strange, 4 eyed Klingon like thing…probably descended from some sort of insectoid given their and prominent bones and dark beady little eyes.

The marines shot their way into the cave system with relative ease. Surprise, lack of cover and bombardment from the navy pretty much sealed the fate of the slavers caught on the surface.

The caves were a bloodbath. Sharp corners, piles of rubble and desperation made the marines pay for every tunnel that they cleared. They were grinding forwards though, for every marine that went down more slavers was killed: It was the brutal calculus of war. A price that Shepard seemed more than willing to pay.

It was more of the same and the marines settled into a rhythm. Grenades around the corners to force the slavers to move, a few rockets were sent off either at slavers or at walls and ceilings to cause more confusion. The marines charged in. Their shields absorbed the first couple dozen rounds but by then they were in cover in the hallway or the slavers were dead or falling back to the central cavern.

The central cavern was massive. It spoke to the reduced gravity of the moon that a cavern of this size could even exist. A series of small buildings occupied the center, crates had been moved to create impromptu barricades along with proper ones that had been dug out of the cavern all in all it was an impressive setup for a group of thugs. Shepard was at the front, where she had been for the entire engagement, taking cover behind an outcropping of rock.

"_Now!" _She screamed over the gunfire

A dull thud could be heard, even over the sound of gunfire, Shepard turned to see a projectile lazily tracing its way across the cavern, before she tried to bury herself into the rock. Seconds later the world shook, the explosion must have been massive. As soon as the shaking stopped Shepard burst from her cover charging the slavers. Gunfire erupted from behind her dropping slavers as soon as they tried to fire. Whatever the marines had fired brought their blood to boil, a few moment of absolute chaos and it was over. The slavers were draped over the crates and rocks like macabre decorations.

A group of marines called out to Shepard, in the middle of a semi-circle of soldiers was a particularly battered bug-man: the leader of the criminal gang.

Shepard pulled her helmet off throwing it to the ground, the angle perfect to capture the scene that played out.

She grabbed him pulling him upright, biotic power flared up a purple halo as she looked him in the eye "Do you remember me?"

To his credit, the slaver was as honest as he was unflinching "No"

"You murdered my family." There was no sadness in those words, not anymore, just an empty statement of fact. Time really does dull all wounds. It almost hurt to hear it...

The flash of a blade, a gout of blood and, silence.

"Call the fifth fleet. Let them know…not one slaver is alive on Torfan."

* * *

"Well…Isn't that interesting."

"What?" The gunnery chief Williams looked over to me,

"Nothing, I'm…appropriating this shotgun."

William's bit her lip shaking her head "I can't give it to you."

"Why is that?"

"The crusader is restricted to marines with the N6 designation or higher ."

"Good. I'm a spectre so that shouldn't be an issue." Williams blinked blankly, the joke had clearly gone over her head. "I have no documentation, no history, and no identity. I might as well be a dead man walking, a ghost. And ghosts are spectres. Therefore I'm a specter."

Williams rolled her eyes "Not funny"

_"I agree, I've heard German politicians make better jokes."_

"Look, I'll take the gun and if you really have a problem with it take it up with the captain."

"Fine" She replied looking at me flatly.

"Good... now" I pushed her gently to the side "I need to figure out how this thing works."

The gun was a thing of beauty an engineering marvel. Microfactury cells produced the ammunition that was used in the gun. A mass effect coil accelerated the slug while simultaneously lowering the weight, similar to my gauss rifle but, because the mass of the slug could be reduced to almost nothing the Crusader didn't need the external coils to accelerate the projectile to critical velocity and it could launch larger projectiles. That was the major drawback of the Gauss Rifle, unless the coils were fully charged, it was ineffective against hard targets. But with a full charge, the bullets had a muzzle velocity of over four kilometers a second and when combined with the appropriate bullet, it was more than enough to destroy anything. Usually by liquefying organs and soft tissue or by melting metal. The Crusader was much less elegant, it punched holes in things and if the first crater didn't kill the ensuing trauma would. The weapon was cooled by a heat sink which, when heat reached critical levels from either the microfactury cells or through simple firing, could be ejected and replaced in combat to allow for a more continuous rate of fire. Or they could be left to cool for a few moments if replacements couldn't be found. It was ingenious, by using versatile heat sinks, soldiers could adjust based on the situation they found themselves in. Prolonged firefights would benefit from having almost infinite ammunition. But during quick frantic firefights rapidly changing heat sinks could allow a soldier to fire a huge number of bullets or slugs in a very short period of time.

I was so engrossed in my study of the Crusader and its components as well as the other weapons in the ship that I hardly noticed time go by. A hand on my shoulder jerked me back to reality.

I looked behind me "Ah…Commander, what can I do for you?"

She looked at the heavy rifle in my hands "What do you think?"

"This? Mattock Heavy Rifle? Could be usefully in some situations but not my kind of weapon. Specializing in nothing, a fully automatic version would be a different matter entirely but…as is it doesn't have the punch or range of a sniper rifle and lacks the rate of fire of a true assault rifle, I'd leave it and rather carry multiple specialized weapons. But if does make a solid rifle for line infantry, so that's a plus. It reminds me of an AK in some ways." I trailed off at Shepard's expression.

"AK?"

"You're kidding. Avtomat Klashnikova." Shepard gave me a blank look "Did you not study any military history? The AK-47 was a rugged and hardwearing assault rifle commonly used by militias during the Cold War and up until the middle of the 21st century. It filled a similar role as the mattock. Anyway...what's up?"

"We'll be getting to the citadel soon, I thought you might want to see it from the outside."

"Of course" I grinned. Thinks with nouns for names tended to be spectacular. Their form spoke for them, they didn't need special identifiers.

"Also, before we get there I want to get you a set of armor…"

"Not a bad idea…I already am armored though. My skeleton is pretty much bulletproof. Even these weapons won't punch through." I gestured at the rifles on the walls "The shields would be nice though…Yeah…If we can strip down the armour leaving me with the shield generators and weapon ports…that would be optimal."

Shepard opened up one of the lockers and threw me a suit of armour "Do what you want with it. Williams." Shepard gestured to the chief and the two of them left the bay.

Tinkering and taking things apart was fun…the reassembly was always a bitch though.

I removed the weapon ports, and shield generators and, cut the armour into strips. I wanted to do two things: Reweave the port into a band, not unlike a lifting belt, to which I could attach the crusader, the second was to determine which components I needed to get the shield generators to function. I'd sling my rifle over my back and my pistol still had its holster.

Making an improvised belt was easy enough, though I did sacrifice the suits built in systems. Full armour like this was…difficult for me to get my head around, a vest and helmet was all that I was used to. This way I might just come across as a mercenary not part of any one faction. No point in playing my hand to early.

The shield generators were…more of a challenge. They were built into the back of the armour, effectively sealed into the suit as a unit. Knives and laser cuts allowed me to separate the armour and its weave from the generator itself. The shields were generated by two sets of field generators that repulsed fast moving objects but allowed slower moving objects to pass through. The generators themselves were small bars of Element Zero with an alternating electrical current generating a rapidly alternating field repulsing or pulverizing anything that attempted to pass through the field, knowing the cut-off velocity could be beneficial.

"_No…"_

"_What? I didn't even suggest anything."_

"_You were thinking about adding that to your muscle and bone weave. You couldn't generate the current at the right times."_

"_No but if I tie it into my autonomous nervous system I could."_

"_Alter your autonomous nervous system? __Sir…you've flown over the cuckoo's nest."_

"_And? I'll build a nest for the cuckoo on the other side."_

_"As your friend I'm recommending that you not alter your body any further. We still don't know what kind of influence your biotics will have.__"_

_"Fine...I'll build some sort of harness"_

_"Good"_

_I rolled my eyes "I'm glad you approve Jeeves."_

I had gotten as far as cutting the armour into strips for straps on which to attac the generators. And attaching the generators to a primitive harness when the Command returned with Ashley.

"What did you do!?" Ashley exclaimed horrified

"Removed the shotgun port and the shield generators. Shotgun port under my jacket, generators as a vest, which I'll make into a sort of flack jacket, also under my jacket. I can blend in pretty well like this. It'll look like I'm wearing stripped down armour."

"Yeah and as soon as we step on a planet with no atmosphere you're screwed, and now the alliance has to buy another suit of armour for you." Ashley was spitting fire.

"I'll get some armour on the citadel then."

"How do you have money?" Shepard asked, eyebrow raised

"I'll figure something out" I said laughing. Every city or station in this case had a casino. And casino's mean slot machines and poker tables. "But is there something you needed commander?"

"Yeah…I'm going to get Joker to bring the Normandy in. I thought you might want to see it yourself."

"Of course" I smiled as we stepped into the elevator where it occurred to me that it was probably as good a time to ask "What's with the bathroom tile?

Both women stared at me "What?! They look like the kind of tiles one would find in a bathroom" I pointed at the walls.

"Huh…" Shepard shrugged "I never really noticed"

"Blame the Turians."

"What? Why?" I asked Williams

"There's a reason why you don't see Turian art or style anywhere and the Normandy was co-developed with the Turian fleet."

"I'll take your word for it." I laughed "I guess I have to take your word for it since I haven't seen any Turian art"

Ashley chuckled "Oh yeah…forgot"

We walked to the front of the ship where Joker sat at the helm.

He looked over, twisting his upper body "Perfect timing Commander, was just about to fire up the relay and bring us into the Citadel. See those tax dollars at work."

The relay itself was a massive construct, I couldn't determine how big it was. There was nothing around it to provide context, but at any rate the mass relay dwarfed the Normandy. Several times longer at the very least. The gate resembled a twisted U: a central core area which contained two mobile rings, the gate extended in two separate arms extending parallel to one another into space. Joke seemed to be guiding the Normandy between the arms of the gate. As the ship approached, purple electrical arcs formed along the arms travelling the length back to the central core of the gate. The two rings started rotating around each other at increasing speeds in opposite directions, starting at the centre point between the two rings a violet ball began to form, electricity arcing along the length of the expanding ball of energy. Evidently reached critical mass as a bolt of energy arced out and grabbed the Normandy, enveloping it in a violet halo and sending it hurtling off into space. We were spat out in a pink nebula.

"_Jeeves…information please"_

"_Right away"_

I flinched instinctively as Jeeves added basic astronomical information to my mind. The Normandy hurtled through the Serpent Nebula, it was strange how everything interesting in this universe was purple or pink. The Mass Effect, the Serpent Nebula, and the Mass Relays. We passed through the nebula, the only sign that we were getting closer to the citadel was that the number of patrol ships…I jerked my head slightly as another shock hit me. Turian ships were…average in appearance, something that I could see a human designing. Angular yet at the same time they maintained a sleek profile, altogether violent looking ships. Thought the pincer like things on the side were strange. The Asari ships on the other hand…they looked like something that required an Acid trip to design, completely and utterly alien. From the back and front they looked like an oval with lines coming out of the bottom and sides. It made no sense…but I guess in an age and universe where mass can be manipulated, firing mechanisms and weapons could take on a myriad number of forms. My best guess was that the…arms of the Asari ships functioned as the launch platforms to the accelerator weapons. We passed through the densest sections of the nebula, where for the second time in as many days I was struck dumb.

"Gods of the machine" I whispered, I was vaguely aware of Ashley and Joker arguing about size versus handling and which is more important: though this was the first time I'd ever heard a man argue the virtues of being smaller. None of that mattered compared to the structure that loomed ahead of us, a massive deep space station. The kind that dwarfed even the imaginations of science fiction writers in scope and size. The station was divided into 6 section by its design, five arms reached into space beckoning and in some poetic way it really felt like the arms of the station were calling out drawing the universe and it's civilizations in. It truly was worthy of such a simple title, the construct stood alone in scope, size and power. The citadel…yes it really was, never to be confused with a mundane terrestrial structure. If politicians were anything like they used to be they'd be in the ring in middle, trying to look important and be the center of attention.

"Gods of the machine?" Shepard questioned.

"Yeah…" I stared off into space too lost in my own thoughts to elaborate

Shepard laughed at my dumbstruck expression

I stood absolutely awestruck by the scene before me, the Ascension was a massive warship making the surrounding vessels looked like toys in comparison. But what really got to me was how nonchalant everyone else was about it. This was normal to them, this was their life. They had been born into a universe at peace, a universe that was practically flowing with milk and honey. Sure they were soldiers and had done their duty, war never really changed, but aside from that it was a golden age. Everything had a treatment and a cure, war was almost non-existent and away from the frontier peace was the rule not the exception. It was a wonderful time to be alive, a time akin to the early industrialized era's, after the ugly grim time of industrialization but before capitalism had been replaced by naked greed. A man could make anything of himself good or bad, legal or not. It was an age of adventure and discovery for those with the nerve, an age of luxury for those with the pockets, an age of romance for those with beating hearts. How different would my life had been had this been my world? What kind of man would I have become if I could have wandered the stars instead of fighting for a dying world and a failing species?

"_It wasn't your fault sir. You did the best you could with what you had. Nobody could have predicted what happened."_

"_I know"_

We lapsed into silence as the Normandy came into the citadel

"_I'm in the system sir."_

"_The system?"_

"_Yes sir, the banks. I have access."_

"_Get to it Jeeves"_

More chatter, I struggled to comprehend what I was seeing. A thud forced everything from my mind. We had arrived…Once more unto the breach.

We stepped out of the Normandy and I stopped dead, my jaw went slack and my legs nearly buckled. It was one thing to see the citadel from space to be aware of how large it was simply by comparing it to the largest ship in the fleet. But standing there on the pier I became aware of how utterly insignificant I was when compared to the massive station. It was several dozen kilometers long at the very least and hundreds wide. The nebula was something else too, no sun not directly anyway, everything was cast over by the pink colour of the nebula. I wandered absently to the railing overlooking the rest of the docking area and the arms of the station spread out below me. Millions of people…millions of people lived here on this station in the middle of space, witnessing the coming and goings of a galaxy, the meeting and clashing of cultures.

A hand clapped me on the shoulder "A lot to take in isn't it'?"

I turned to captain the superstructure of the station rising up behind him "You have no idea…right now I'm just trying to not fall to my knees…this is…" I trailed off, I couldn't put what I felt into words. It was impossible for me to describe something this extraordinary.

"Take your time son"

I laughed dryly "It's…for me…it's... like being put into an 80's science fiction writers LSD induced fantasy."

"How so?"

"Space ships, aliens, magic, a galactic senate…I mean it's incredible. But for you…it's just another day at the office."

The captain chuckled…twice "Believe it or not I know how you feel. I fought in the first contact war, we didn't believe in aliens back then." The Captain shook his head "That was one hell of a campaign."

"You'll have to tell me about it sometime" I grinned "One way or another..."

The five of us; Captain Anderson, Commander Shepard, Kaiden and, Ashley and I stepped into the elevator heading down into the depths of the station. I was excited, more excited than when I realized I had hurled myself between realities. It was one thing to be in a new universe a new plane of reality but…the Normandy was sterile, the crew were all human, the construction was humanoid. Here though as we descended through from the docking bay each level we passed only served to build my excitement, the levels were windows, both metaphorical and literal into the goings on of the inhabitants of the station. I struggled in vain to suppress the grin that threatened to split my face in two.

"Can't say I've seen anybody this happy Commander" Kaiden was smiling slightly himself.

"Neither have I Alenko."

"What?" I turned to face them "How can all this…this mass of existence not excite you? You're in the middle of everything, the entire universe, every culture, congregates here. The Citadel is a nexus for the universe. How can you not be excited to be here?

"Because an entire colony was almost wiped off the map by geth?"

I rolled my eyes "You must be fun at parties" but couldn't keep the grin off my face.

"Look, I don't care what a bunch of Asari, Salarians and, Turians" she spat that last word "are doing. All I want now is to look down a scope and drop tin cans. But here I am stuck playing with politicians."

"Huh…" I trailed off with Jeeves poking into my mind.

"_She clearly has a grudge sir."_

"_Yeah…had to be deaf not to notice that."_

"_I've begun diverting funds sir. The credits from non-criminal enterprises are being funnelled into Batarian space."_

"_Batarian?"_

"_A pariah race. A number of intermediary steps were needed but it's on its way. Money from criminal organizations has been moved to a more liquid account."_

"_Well done Jeeves."_

"_Thank you sir."_

I rejoined the conversation in time to hear the trio wrapping up their discussion about the necessity of being here and as Ashley so eloquently put, playing with politicians.

"Captain, if it's all the same to you I'd like to take this as an opportunity to wander about the station a bit. Get some of this excitement out of my system before any anti-geth operations begin. You know how to contact me."

The captain drummed his fingers on his crossed arms. "Alright"

"With all due respect Captain, you can't be serious."

"I am."

I bowed slightly to the captain before spinning on my heel and leaving.

Another elevator from the security headquarters to the wards; the most densely populated areas of the station.

"_Jeeves. You know what I'm thinking?"_

"_Yes…do you honestly think the overlap is the extensive?"_

"_No idea, but such is the nature of infinity. You remember what happened when I went to Vegas just to explore?"_

"_How could I forget? You got so drunk that even I, despite my complete lack of a body, was intoxicated."_

I laughed _"Those were the days eh?"_

"_That they were sir. Losing a million on a 00 bet on the roulette table…."_

"_Yep but I ended up buying the Casino so…all my losses were to myself."_

"_If I recall correctly you spent so much money that that was the only way you could remain solvent"_

"_Right but back to the overlap."_

"…_I understand but the odds of that kind of overlap are…"_

"_The nature of infinity Jeeves."_

"_That's precisely my point sir. Infinity, infinite possibilities, we could be looking for something diametrically opposite."_

"_I know, which is why we won't be looking for a person we'll be looking for indicators. Someone who is being hunted but has an end goal…actually focus on that, look for people who have the bodily language of a prey animal and have someone actively pursuing them."_

"Very well sir. What will you be doing?"

"_Finding Coffee…"_

"_Naturally"_

I stepped out of the elevator to be hit by an incredible mixture of sights and smells. As though someone had taken Hong Kong, Shanghai, New York and, Berlin all topped off with gratuitous amounts of neon lighting and glaringly bright lights that wouldn't have been out of place in Vegas. About a dozen steps in I realized that I might be outdone by the mass of…not humanity but… life that was in front of me.

"_Jeeves, map and information about every locale on the citadel"_

I was rewarded moments later by, what felt like a thousand lightning bolts going off in my mind, causing me to stagger a step forward. The wards were too much of a chaotic mess for anyone to notice…even my gauss rifle didn't get more than an occasional once over by mercenaries or security personnel. What stood out more was my clothing, everyone down here was wearing armor or clothing that, had clearly been designed by a blind man. Modern style really didn't appeal to me.

_"Ah the woes of getting old...fashion passing you by."_

_"Don't you have work to do Jeeves?"_

_"There's always time for a cutting remark"_

I groaned before being distracted by the Asari…alien enough to be strikingly exotic, but human enough to be comfortable…that combined with their taste in dresses…made them easy on the eyes to say the least.

The Krogan and Salarians looked like lizards or amphibians, differing only in size. I could snap a Salarian over my knees they were roughly as tall as a human but looked very breakable. The Krogan were several hundred kilos, massive creatures that could easily live up to their reputation as violence prone predators.

The Turians…they were by far the most alien of the races, their bodies were non-human in every way. They had digitigrade legs, their hips were wide and angular in fact it almost looked like their legs had been added as an afterthought during the design process and then simply attached to the rest of the body structure at a 90 degree angle. Massive chests and backs narrowed just above the hips and then ballooned outwards until the neck. Their faces and head was what gave them a prefatory aspect. A mouth full of teeth jagged and sharpe canine analogues accentuated by a secondary set of mandibles, which did explain the accessories on their ships, showcased a predatory and carnivorous evolution. A set of spikes pointed towards the backs of their heads completed the alien ensemble.

I shook my head bemused as I continued through the maze of lights and noise, my noise assaulted by the cuisine and odours of a thousand worlds…a truly bizarre bazar. As I walked through the Wards, heading to a café on the presidium levels so I could gather my thoughts, the memories and information that Jeeves had implanted began to slot into place. I was glad that I didn't have to do anything more than walk, the amount of information that was getting processed made my head spin and vision swim. As things clicked into place it became harder to prevent myself from doing a little Irish jig in celebration. Everything began to make sense and comprehension dawned. It was a wondrous feeling, one that only served to enhance my sense of awe, to see how different things can be. In some ways how much better but also how fragile the peace really was. I fought for and saved a dying world but we paid a horrible price both in lives lost and sacrificed humanity. In this universe, space itself and alien technology had saved humanity from having to make unthinkable choices. How anyone could resent them in light of what had been handed to humanity was not something that I could comprehend. I laughed to myself…old man syndrome, how foolish the young seemed to someone who has lived so many years.

"_Jeeves where's that Café you recommended?"_

An image flashed in my mind's eye, Jeeves being too busy to reply. I ambled through the rest of the presidium drinking in the details, by the time I reached the café that overlooked the rest of the presidium I couldn't stop smiling. I sat on the top of a terraced garden extending below me to the base of the presidium area. It was a honeymoon and I knew it would end, but for the moment I was as close to a state of ecstasy as I could be without chemical help: Coffee in hand overlooking a strange new world, serviceable coffee too especially given that I was on a station which, I could only assume, was in a different arm of the galaxy. I sighed, content for the moment. My serenity was interrupted by a quiet cough from behind me, an Asari.

"May I" She asked

The Asari are an interesting species. Skin tones ranging from blue to purplish hues, most in the blue end of the spectrum. Human features in all aspects save for two, they had no hair and in place of that they had cartilaginous crests that grew from the backs of their heads. Alien yes, but they weren't jagged like those of the Turians and as such added instead of detracted from the exotic appeal of the species. They were also incredibly long lived, life spans of over a millennia wasn't uncommon for the species. Some members of the species also had different coloured facial patterns which looked more like tattoos than birth marks.

"Please, by all means."

"_Jeeves…block bugs in twenty seconds"_

"What can I do for you?" I asked looking at her over my coffee.

"Nothing in particular, you just looked like someone interesting. I'm Larissa by the way."

"Jake…" I offered her my hand. I sipped my coffee before asking with a raised eyebrow "How am I interesting?"

"I've never seen you before, and I'd have remembered someone who looked like they stepped out of an old human vid."

"Old human movie?" My face twisted going from content indifference to surprise.

"Yeah sure, leather jacket, jeans, pistol…" She trailed off eyes widening slightly and a hand moving almost instinctively partway to her ear before she caught herself and continued "you look like someone from a pre-contact human action vid. And you even called it a movie." She laughed with delight.

"Sure…but there are how many million people on the Citadel? There have to be more than a few that have an archaic fashion sense."

"Not on the presidium though. No diplomat carries a rifle or dresses like that and security all wear lapels showing who they work for or armour with company logos on it. What kind of a gun is that anyway?"

"This? It's a Gauss Rifle."

"Really!?" She seemed bizarrely excited, stranger still was that those were real emotions not forced ones "Like in the games?"

"I'm sorry what!?" I laughed, the entire situation was even more bizarre than anything I could have ever predicted. Meeting an alien who is fascinated by ancient human culture on a station as massive as this, the odds were astronomical. But that did assume this was a coincidental meeting, which I sincerely doubted.

"Old human games and books talked about them. It's a sniper rifle right?"

"Old human games? How old are you?"

"Eighty four"

"Eighty four? Damn"

She smiled "Human lives are short but Asari can live for a thousand years" an angry expression flashed across her face and then vanished so quickly I could have almost fooled myself into thinking I imagined it.

"Nobody takes any young person seriously" I said laughing "it's not unique to the Asari. Why the interest in humanity?"

"Because you humans are weird"

I laughed again "I'll take that as a compliment I guess"

He eyes widened a bit "Yeah no, that's a good thing. The other races are either boring or...I don't know I like humans."

"I've noticed"

"Humans are short lived, but they go through life like they were never going to die. I've seen humans do things just to see if they'd survive or they do things without thinking of whether or not they will survive. Your kind takes more risks than any of the other citadel races, and humans make an impact, you can't ignore humanity however much you try. They're everywhere. In thirty years they got an embassy, they're on the citadel in droves and they're pushing for a seat on the council. Thirty years! I remember watching the vids during the war between the Human Alliance and Turian Hierarchy and now they're here, it's exciting!"

"Ok but that was 30 years ago. You still seem pretty excited."

"That was all on the news though, Thessia doesn't get many Humans...it doesn't get much of anything really... I don't know why anyone would stay."

"Heh yeah I grew up in the middle of nowhere on earth. Maybe a thousand people, nothing ever changed there. One of the reasons I always told myself I'd get the hell out." I said smiling at her.

"Wait how old are you?" She asked "I can't gauge human age well."

"Twenty five. I was born just after the first contact war."

"Wow."

"Yeah compared to the Asari we grow up much faster."

"Doesn't that suck though?"

"What?"

"Having such a short life?"

"I don't know, doesn't it suck knowing that you'll see countless people die around you and you'll be forced to live on?"

She laughed "Fair point"

"Besides" I continued "Like you said it motivates us to live life as fully as we can."

"Yeah…I guess it does." She almost looked pensive.

I looked for a change in topic… "Why that time though, why pre-contact humanity? The late 20th and early 21st? That's what I don't get."

"I dunno, humans were even more crazy back then. And most of the humans I know seemed to idolize that time and I just fell in love with it. It really started with some of the vids that I was shown. All kinds of weird..." she laughed "What about you?"

I shrugged "For one the town I lived in never changed much past that time and...I made the rifle with my brother back home so it's just the time I fit best in."

Larissa's eyes went wide "What, really?"

"Yeah no joke. I liked blowing things up and he like physics and electricity. We build the thing in a garage. I've improved it and upgraded it several times since then but the main body is still the same it was back then. My jacket and pants are more for practical reasons than anything else. I'm used to the blazing sun so the Citadel is almost cold for me."

"What's earth like?"

"It depends where you are. Where I'm from was hot and cold. In the summer it was thirty degrees and the ground was baked by the sun, it was a really dry heat too. If you spent to long outside the wind would crack your skin. In winter it was the same except it was cold enough to freeze a man solid and then bury him. It's not the animals that would kill you, it was the climate. The land itself though was flat, completely flat. In winter it was white with snow but in summer and fall it was golden with the wheat harvest. Sometimes, if the wind blew properly, it would look like a giant golden wave flowing across the land." My mind wandered, what did the prairies look like now, in this universe? Did the wheat fields still gleam in the sunlight or were those all gone now? I shook my head "What about Thessia?"

"Serrice? It's beautiful" her eyes glazed over recalling her home "A really relaxed way of life. Most of the people are involved with the making of amps or Omni-tools in one way or another, there's also a commando training facility there as well. The buildings are built to be in harmony with nature and the Asari use weather controlling devices to modify the weather so it isn't too extreme in the winter or the summer. It's green, never seen a golden wave but everything is covered in plants and trees."

"When was the last time you were there?"

"A couple years, I always mean to go back but I never get around to it"

I smiled "I know the feeling."

I could feel Jeeves in the back of my head, transferring information.

I drained the last of my coffee "Well it's been a pleasure speaking with you Larissa, but I'll let you get back to your patrol."

"Patrol?"

"You're a C-Sec officer, I made you and your partner when you first started tailing me after I stepped out of the elevator."

"Partner?" She tried to feign innocence but her shifting and widening eyes betrayed her.

"Please we were off to such a good start don't take me for a fool. I'll need some way to contact you again."

"What?" Confusion replaced anxiety.

"I need some way to get in touch with C-Sec through unofficial channels."

"Why?"

"Because…sometimes my work requires police involvement."

She thought about it for a minute, weighing the risk and the reward. If she was anything like I thought she was. If that indignation at being not taken seriously was there...she'd have no problem taking the deal. The promise of advancement being weighed against the risk of her getting caught by C-Sec.

"Alright" She nodded sending me an Omni-Tool address.

"One more question before we part ways, why did you follow me?"

"Your clothing for one, but what really tipped us off was that when you passed by us, we scanned you and you didn't show up in the C-Sec system. And when we checked human databases they came up blank too. Nobody leaves no footprint."

"I see" I stood

"Wait. How do you help people? What does that mean?"

"Bachjret Ward, warehouse district, F. It's a where the Eclipse run their Red Sand distribution business on the Citadel. There's a pickup set to go down in an hour or so."

She blinked her eyes, slack jawed "See, I could kill the dealers but couldn't arrest anyone. You can, sometimes working with C-Sec is in everybody's interest." I bowed slightly before leaving.

"_Jeeves, hack into her communications."_

Jeeves patched me in in time for me to hear the essence of the conversation. "What the hell happened?" A flat is someone agitated voice, her Turian partner.

"Nothing, he cut my coms."

"Cut your coms?! That's not nothing, nobody is supposed to be able to do that!" Agitated Turians sounded funny.

"Yeah ok so it was odd. But it doesn't matter. I got intel on a red sand warehouse."

"What?"

"And you didn't detain him?"

"No, he made us. If he was a criminal he wouldn't be telling me that."

"This just gets better and better."

"Yeah it does!" Larissa was indignant "I know when a pick up from Eclipse is supposed to go down. Now if you're done being an idiot we can go."

"Shouldn't we call this in?"

"No…yes. We'll call in Anexis and Zola."

"This is…" The Turian was uneasy.

"You call them I'll drive."

"_T__hank you Jeeves. That was quick thinking with the tip."_

"_Isn't she a bit young for you sir?"_

"_Whaddaya mean!? She's eighty four I'm a century old. At our ages what difference do thirty years make?"_

"_Quite a bit since you plan on playing her like a piano in La Scala."_

"_What on earth gave you that impression?"_

"_Oh nothing in particular…"_

"_Of course I plan on using her. I need a contact on the citadel and she fit the bill beautifully. Obsession with an era that I lived through and with humanity in general. She's ambitious and is probably willing to break the rules to get ahead."_

"_And you learned this how sir?"_

"_Because even after her equipment failed she stuck around and her micro-expressions were all of indignation when talking about c-sec . She shouldn't have and wouldn't have if she was by the book. Did you see anything interesting Jeeves?"_

"_Yes, I found six possible individuals whose body language fit the pattern we were looking for. Of those six four were being followed. But only one was had messages concerning Saren and the Geth."_

"_Excellent work Jeeves. Where are they headed?"_

"_I did some further looking, and it came to my attention that they were or in fact still are herding her towards the square on the other side of the…lake. There are three snipers moving into position around the square, presumably to assassinate her."_

"_ETA?"_

"_About five minutes at their current pace sir."_

"_Alright" _I threw the dregs of my coffee back and stood excited to get to work. Jeeves flashed an image showing me the location of the sniper waiting on this side of the artificial lake. I marveled at that, the amount of time and resources that must have gone into and still must go into the construction and maintenance of that lake have to be enormous.

I picked up my pace to so that I could hit the snipers before they got to the square. I took the stairs two at a time, moving as quickly as I could without attracting undue attention. Even so I attracted more attention than I wanted.

"_Jeeves, I'm faded yes?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Good, call Shepard."_

"_Sir?"_

"_Do it."_

"_Putting you through."_

"Yes?"

"Commander! Just felt I should inquire as to how your meeting with the council went."

I didn't particularly want to tip the Commander off to what I was going to do but being completely silent on the other hand would probably come across as strange possibly prompting the commander to look into my whereabouts.

"The council refuses to act without solid evidence. Apparently our testimony and the witness we had wasn't worth anything"

"Any leads?"

"Yeah, we're heading out to talk with the C-sec officer in charge of the investigation, should be in the headquarters. He might have something more for us to use."

"Need an extra hand?"

"No, no we should be fine." As we spoke I was nearing my destination, with three minutes to spare I leaned against the wall to finish my conversation with Shepard

"How is your exploration of the Citadel?"

"Illuminating. I had a lovely conversation with an Asari. The Asari are something else. Their sex appeal is…well to be quite honest not of this world."

Shepard laughed at my joke, awful as it was "Yep, well if you're still out of prison that's a good thing… I should go."

"Happy hunting commander."

"_Jeeves…the door"_

The door to the apartment slid open, gliding silently on magnetic rails. Pleasantly furnished, someone lived here, and in all likelihood, completely unaware of what was going on in their home. A Turian knelt by the window overlooking the presidium, watching the events unfolding below through the scope of a sniper rifle. The apartment was deathly silent, I had expected a trap of some kind some sensor to go off…something.

When nothing revealed itself I smiled, revealing each of my teeth in a twisted grin. The Turian was completely focused on his task, inattentive to his more immediate surroundings: Which is why snipers always worked in pairs. I crossed the room in two strides, picking my target as I moved. I didn't know much about Turian physiology, but a universal truth with regard to vertebrates was that if you severed their spine they'd probably die or at least be incapacitated. I brought my knife down, enhanced by both biotics and my own synthetics it punctured his armour and spine before he could react. I pulled my blood slicked knife out of his back, rolled him over, looked into the vacant eyes I'd seen in so many people before him, and thrust into the brain a small charge frying any synthetic implants.

I cast his body to the side, throwing it onto the couch, blue haemocyanin staining the white couch.

_I laughed mentally, "Well that was easy"_

"_Obviously" Jeeves had never been completely comfortable with violence._

I was content as I surveyed the scene, some measure of blood was inevitable but otherwise the scene was surgical. I had blood on my jacket, I made a mental note to wash it off once I took care of the assassins across the plaza. The body had landed on the couch, the blood flowing off the couch and pooling on the floor. But even that was slowing

The rifle he had been carrying was a heavy anti material rifle, I'd have called it excessive if I didn't know how far personal armor had evolved in this universe. Heavy, powerful and, tempting sadly I knew my gauss rifle better than any other weapon in the world. The glass had been cut across the horizontal to allow the sniper any angle and about twenty centimeters in the vertical. Much less visible than removing the window in its entirety but effective nonetheless.

"_Is the target in the square Jeeves?" I asked dropping down to occupy the space that the Turian had been in until I interrupted him. My gauss rifle hummed quietly ready to discharge._

"_Almost "_

"_Where are the other two located?"_

Images flashed in my mind Jeeves showing me the locations of the other two hitmen. Both of them Turians, both of them from the same organization as the one I had just killed if their uniforms were any indication. Each was clad in black, the face covered by a full mask, their rifles also matte black. So cliché but the best things in life usually are. One of them located in an apartment very similar to the one that I was in. The other had more of a story computer terminals filled the room, whoever had been monitoring was probably gone or more likely now lying prone on the ground with a rifle pointed through the window.

"_Which one has a better angle?"_

"_The one in the office"_

I pressed down on the trigger waiting for the humming to stop before releasing it, an instant later I saw the glass shatter the bullet passing through it and into the head of the human. When an object moving at two kilometres per second detonates upon contact with a liquid, such as the intracranial fluid, the result is as psychologically traumatic top a bystander as it is physically traumatic to the person who had been shot. Pieces of the skull and brain matter decorated the walls and monitors, larger shards of bone embedded themselves in the chair in front of the terminals. It was a grizzly sight, whoever entered next would be having nightmares for weeks.

"_Sir…"_

"_Right"_

I directed the attention to the other sniper, still blissfully ignorant of the fact that the assassin was about to be assassinated. I smiled internally, the electric hum of my rifle a harbinger of death.

I felt, rather than heard the door to the apartment open. Jeeves confirmed my fear a thought later turning my left eye into an extension of the camera in the hallway. A second assassin stood in the doorway for a moment surveying the scene. The blood pooled at the bottom of his comrades feet, my knife still embedded in his eye. The second assassin twitched, in that moment I stood, spun and, pulled the trigger. The mess was…extreme. The round was still travelling at its muzzle velocity when it made contact with his chest and the fluid within. The detonation of the round left a crater where his internal organs were and painted the walls and door blue. I sighed, any surgical sense was lost. The assassin was on the ground alive for another brief moment before the hypovolemic shock killed him.

"_Sir, she's arrived in the square"_

"Ahhhhh fuck!" I swore as I slid back into position.

Looking down the barrel of my rifle through the scope the Turian assassin was making the same motions as me just a handful of seconds in advance. True I wasn't moving, and as long as he didn't have a clear shot...

"_Hate to interrupt sir, but he does in fact have a clear line of fire…he's waiting for someone else to arrive. Possibly to reclaim the data."_

"_ETA?"_

"_Not something I checked for"_

"_Buy me a second or two"_

"_I'll try"_

I depressed the trigger of my Rifle cursing every god I never believed in and silently berating myself for not switching the cell. The seconds felt like hours as I waited for the charge to build. The lights of the apartment I was watching flickered on and the door slid open. Not enough… I'd take the shot kill my mark and turn around to deal with the civilian coming home after, clearly the assassin thought along the same lines. My blood froze as I saw the telltale signs of satisfaction that fills any assassin right before a kill. He twitched towards the trigger when Jeeves overloaded the lights in the apartment raining glass on him…quite hot too judging by his reaction. It was instinct, any assassin was trained to suppress them but that could only go so far. The barrel of his rifle was jostled by a couple centimeters. He tried to correct it but with his finger already pulling on the trigger it was too late.

The hum coming from my weapon reached a constant pitch, then fell silent when I released the trigger sending a fragmentation round at two thousand meters per second at the assassin on the far side of the presidium. A heartbeat later he was dead, the bullet entered low the fragments scything through his jaw and the bottom two-thirds of his head.

"Heh…scalping a man with a sniper rifle. Wonders never cease."

"_I hate to interrupt your sense of wonder but perhaps you should be checking on the source of this charade?"_

I sighed internally "Fine, show me"

A spark and shock later and I was seeing through a camera eye, my Quarian quarry was barely visible through the lenses and rapidly moving off it.

"_Jeeves this is a shit angle"_

"_Working on it sir"_

"_Never mind" _I cut the feed and switched to my scope, female that much was obvious. Purple fabric hugged her tightly, the body suit that she wore doing nothing to hide her curves. The fabric and suit was torn around her bicep the shot had been off: Enough to avoid her head, not enough to miss her completely but it was shallow at least. I sighed internally, the day had been going so well too.

"_I gotta say Jeeves I'm glad that we saved her"_

"_So am I though we will have to get her to safety..."_

I cut Jeeves off _"I mean…that hip to waist ratio…spectacular"_

_Jeeves coughed in my mind "I'm fairly certain that most cultures frown upon relationships where one partner is ten times older than the other. Taking advantage of naiveté and whatnot. And were you not salivating over that Asari ten minutes ago?"_

"_That was then and this is now. In any case she's not human so I doubt that human ethics need apply and even if they did, this isn't in a human culture. Besides, I was remarking on her physical proportionality not her personality."_

"_Of course, carnal desire played no role I'm sure."_

"_OI! There's no way she's ten!" _

"_No but you're almost two hundred"_

"_Barely, I spent half of that time in the Twilight Zone. But if that's the case I should get double senior discounts now then."_

"_You have had four times as long to earn the money though"_

"_Earn? Why would I do that when I can beat, burn and, steal?"_

"_Change of pace?"_

I chuckled _"Jeeves, call Larissa"_

"Hello" No ringtone surprisingly efficient for a police force.

"Hello Larissa"

"Who is this?"

"Jake, we met at the café earlier."

"Oh…I'm still on duty." She sounded agitated. I smiled to myself, where there's trouble I'll make double.

"I know, that's why I'm calling."

"There's an official line for civilians to report incidents."

"Three dead shadow broker assassins."

The line was silent for a long minute _"Jeeves, which way is our target headed?"_

"_Into the wards"_

"_Probably for medical treatment. Compile a list of doctors who are most likely to help her"_

"_Right away"_

Larissa was still silent, processing what I told her when I returned to that conversation.

"What?" disbelief and confusion both in her voice and, I imagined, on her partners face.

"There are four shadow broker assassins, now dead, at the following three locations."

"These are in the Presidium, close to where you…" She trailed off putting the pieces together

"I did say I helped people didn't I? Sometimes helping people is as simple as putting bandages on cuts. Other times I kill people who, frankly, have it coming: There are lots of ways to help people. Either way…I need you to call it in" My voice was light, I knew she'd go for it.

"I…"

"In the last apartment on the list I sent is a database. Possibly related to shadow broker activates or informants on the citadel. Now go make a bust."

"Yeah…ok…alright" I heard her telling her partner to call it in.

"You can probably enter from the window." Stunned silence followed "Snipers, the window of the intel room is shattered"

"Understood"

"Now I have to run."

"Alright…and Jake?"

"Eh?"

"Thank you" In my mind it was a heartfelt thanks for helping to advance her career. But in reality it was a platitude.

"My pleasure."

I ran through the presidium, the Quarian had a head start because of my conversation with Larissa and even more of an advantage given her proximity to the entrance to the Wards. A man sprinting through a diplomatic district drew more attention than I ever wanted, especially given my attire and the equally unusual rifle I carried on my back. I looked to them as a 19th century bounty hunter would look to me: completely out of place. What kept C-Sec off me was the fact that Jeeves was removing me from the camera feeds to whomever was watching. To anyone in the surveillance bureau it would appear as though people were parting and turning their heads for no reason: Strange but not criminal. The nature of this station meant that all paths headed towards the elevator banks before diverging again. All I had to do was suppress my curiosity and keep sprinting past the sights, smells and, sounds of the galaxies elite citizens. Crowds weren't an issue in the presidium, the network of wide boulevards its low population density made it easy to avoid people. Most people are orderly enough that if someone comes running down a hallway they part like the red sea.

"_Follow the left branch underneath the walkway you just ran on, left the right down the stairs."_

"_Update"_

My vision blurred before my left eye returned to normal, my left following the progress of the Quarian through the wards. She was…hurried walking as quickly as she dared. Her movements were wrong for even accounting for her different leg structure, possible blood loss and, buffeting from the people in the wards. Whatever that bullet was coated with was starting to take effect.

"_Here sir"_

I vaulted the railing dropping down two floors before slamming into the ground, I landed heavily. Graceful landings being something that I stopped caring about when I enhanced my muscular-skeletal structure. Jeeves cut the connection, I got up shaking my head to dispel the last of the camera images that lingered behind. Spending too much time with a camera image piggybacked onto the optic nerve could cause a sort of plasma burn which was painful and it interfered with normal sight. The short tunnel gave way to a courtyard the stairs on the far side. In the middle of the courtyard near a flowerbed an officer was arguing with an eight foot tall jellyfish. I slowed to a walk, I had already generated enough attention with my two story drop and mad rush through the presidium. A couple flights of wide ornamental stairs and I arrived at an elevator bank. ID controls restricted access to the various levels of the Citadel, which was fine by me.

"_A question sir"_

"_Yeah?"_

"_How did you know that Larissa would use the information you gave her?"_

"_Because she wants a promotion, she wants respect and, most importantly she wants to prove herself."_

"_That doesn't mean that a person will accept someone's statement as gospel truth."_

"_No, but she proved that she was willing to bend the rules to achieve her ends. When I told her about the red sand warehouse, she didn't haul me in or question me further despite that that was what she was supposed to do. Based on that I assumed that she'd use any intel she could to further her career, even if it meant skirting the law. And anyway the conversation with her partner was pretty damn clear."_

"_I see. Still a risk."_

"_Better than leaving the bodies lying around. Besides, she doesn't have anything on us. Nobody does. I'm just the man in the jacket."_

"_Jacket and rifle"_

"_For now…Jeeves see if you can get this piece of shit to move faster…anyway yeah but if I can get my Biotics to be more destructive I could even forego that and buy a suit. The man in the suit…maybe I should change my name to Bond?"_

"_Funny sir, would you learn the accent?"_

"_Naturally"_

"_Where are we headed?"_

"…_No idea" _A confused Jeeves was never a good sign

"_How can you not know? You were watching her."_

"_I was, I saw her right up until she entered section of the wards with one of the clinics in it. Now she is no longer there"_

"_Someone beat us to the punch__?" _

"_So it would seem"_

"_So what? Now I twiddle my thumbs until she resurfaces?"_

"_That would be best"_

"_For fucks sake Jeeves…fine. Point me in the direction of the nearest bar."_

Finding bars in the wards turned out to be easier than finding gambling addicts in Vegas. The Wards catered to every type of alien often at the same time, finding something that was human enough to be comfortable but still alien enough to be interesting was slightly more difficult.

"_Try Flux. That should be right up your alley."_

"_What do you mean? Jeeves? Why are you laughing?"_

I cursed to myself steering myself to the recently opened nightclub. Artificial gravity and a life support that was projected around the station allowed for open designs. It was possible to lean on a railing and spit down onto the lower levels of the wards or if you're positioned correctly onto the presidium. But looking up I could see the purple and pink gasses of the nebula and ships flying in and out of the station bringing with them the luxuries of a universe. There was a rhythm to this place, a pulse that wasn't like anything I'd ever experienced. It was strange but I suppose that was the nature of the station. The only way to differentiate was through interior design.

That chaos of the Wards gave way to a sterile staircase leading up to the nightclub as I approached the door I was greeted by a dimly light hybrid: part lounge, part nightclub, part casino...The lights were dim, the music loud and the view spectacular. I nodded at the bouncer making my way to the bar, so many memories in places like this.

"_I did tell you it would be right up your alley. Remind you of anything?"_

"_Taipai 101 floors 99 to 101"_

"_I thought you'd see the similarity."_

"_Smaller, not as fancy and it does cater the plebeian masses…but the view is just as breathtaking."_

"_The last time we were there…"_

_I laughed at the memory "Yeah that was the day we brought down the Communist Party of China."_

"_Quite literally you knocked the chairman out from the 99__th__ floor"_

"_Yeah but it's not as if he fell very far, he landed on the window cleaners platform remember? They brought him back up into the club with only a bruise and a piss stain on his pants. High on Opium bringing down the Chinese government, there was something poetic about that."_

"_I still don't understand why"_

"_Because! In the 19__th__ century it was the Chinese consumption of opium that brought down the Quing dynasty. In the 21__st__ it was the western consumption of opium that brought down the Chinese government…well my consumption of opium at any rate."_

"_There is nothing poetic about that"_

The Chinese debacle always brought a smile to my face I walked to the bar, a grin resolutely sticking to my face. The bartender knew how to work people: Laughing, flirting with the men, a couple of serving tricks…it was always nice to see someone who knew what they were doing.

"What can I get you" She had a smile like a peeled banana; white teeth and a wide smile "Hmmm…you look like someone who can handle their liquor…Ryncol?" She asked still smiling

I laughed "I appreciate the vote of confidence, but I'd prefer something a bit more…human. Beer something more on the bitter end of the spectrum."

"Beer?" surprise flitted across her face.

"Sure" I shrugged "I've all but used up my adventurous spirit for the day"

"Gotcha" She winked and reached under the counter "From Beckenstein"

I grinned, beer from a planet I didn't recognize even beer was proving to be an adventure.

"_Jeeves…pay and tip..well"_

She smiled, genuine this time, and extended her hand "I'm Jenna"

I nodded "A pleasure Jenna"

I sat down staring off into the abyss of space, watching the ships passing by outside, watching the reflections in the glass, people dancing, talking, drinking and up on the second floor gambling. I nursed my beer while Jeeves looked for some trace of where the Quarian vanished to. A melancholic grin was plastered to my face.

"_How did we end up here?" I was still in a state of disbelief_

"_I have no idea but it would make an impressive story if anyone were to believe us"_

""_I suppose but considering that two days ago you were on your own in the Tanti facility and I was on the run from DEVGRU and Delta and, now we're here."_

"_Don't forget the black hole…not that anyone would believe us."_

"_Isn't that the joke? We've done so much in our century together. We've fought and killed across the plant. From Mongolia to China. From Norway to the Antarctic base. The US, Latin America, Africa…we've spilt blood across every continent. And by the time that I realized that I was becoming a slave to expectation it was too late. But here? Here we are free. Nobody knows us, we can be anyone and anything."_

"_True…"  
_

"_There is an entire universe out there. We could explore all of it, see every nook and cranny of the void. Fighting on the frontier, raiding on the rim and, coming back to the core to spend everything we've earned. Hell we could be scientists or explorers. Genuine explorers. Pushing the frontier forwards! The last time anyone did that on earth was in the 18__th__ century but we could do that now. Von Komjat and Jeeves they'd build statues to us on the colonies we'd found."_

"_Tempting as it is sir…we've already sided with Shepard and if the nature of infinity is as you've described it, then there's a war brewing and we will once more have to stain the walls with the blood of the dead."_

"_Perhaps Jeeves…but think about it. How different would our lives have been had the world been like this for us? None of the killing, none of the violence. We wouldn't have been backed into a corner by reality."_

"_Would you have enjoyed it sir?"_

"_Probably not…no I wouldn't have. But still it makes a nice dream. A nice boring life…."_

"_But that's all it is. A dream, one that both of us would have gotten tired of."_

"_Perhaps but isn't that the thing, we could have been hero's without needing to bloody our hands so deeply.__"_

That was one of the reasons why I had been so eager to get myself mixed up with whatever Commander Shepard was up to was because it would give me the opportunity to both get a measure of the universe and its key players. I'd also be able to add something to my résumé but beyond that… for the first time in a century I didn't know what the future held. It wasn't bad per se but without my reputation to precede me I was at the mercy of Captain Anderson and Commander Shepard and that was a bitter pill to swallow.

Time dragged on. Shepard was investigating and I was sitting in a bar drinking.

"_Sir, I have news"_

"_Good I hope?"_

"_Well yes…I found the Quarian…"_

"_But?"_

"_She's being followed."_

"_Not by good Samaritans offering tea and crumpets by chance?"_

"_A Turian and two Salarians. Full armor and carrying concealed weapons."_

"_Why can't anything go smoothly? Where are they?"_

"_Alleyway, nearby. There are however no camera's, which is probably why they chose meet there."_

"_Stupid. fucking. child!" I spat shaking my head "Call the commander"_

As much as I wanted to jump out of my chair and sprint towards the alley pistol in hand, there was a very good chance that other agents watching the surrounds simply because of the number of bodies I'd been leaving behind and given the tip I'd given to Larissa C-Sec might have also been watching. Granted this nightclub probably wasn't a priority but still. I stood and walked out of the bar, nodding to the guard on the way out.

"Commander, find that evidence yet?" I asked keeping my voice light

"Almost, there was a Quarian who visited a doctor down in the Wards except she wasn't there but we ran into the Turian in charge of the investigation. Shot a trio of thugs and found out that she'd gotten patched up there a few hours ago and headed to Chora's Den, a nightclub to meet with the owner who also happens to be a shadow broker agent, that's where we're going now."

"Convoluted as all hell but who's we?"

"Ashley, Garrus and, myself."

"Garrus?"

"He was the C-Sec officer in charge of the investigation into Saren?"

"Was?"

"He joined up with us"

"Joined up? You just talked a man out of one uniform into another?"

"Yes he got stonewalled by C-Sec"

"I see"

Shepard spoke again "I should go, we're almost at there."

"Alright, I'll head that way."

"Understood"

"It's shut down…they know we're coming Commander" Ashley chimed in seconds before gunfire erupted and the connection was cut.

I left the nightclub and jogged down the stairs out into the Wards. Soundproofing must be a priority on the station given that I couldn't hear anything from the club or from the main artery of the wards that was just on the other side of the doors at the bottom of the stairs. You could shoot someone here and nobody would be the wiser. I passed through the doors entering the Wards where I was greeted by a wave of sound, hundreds of languages washed over me in thousands of dialects. I pushed through the crowds at as quick a pace I could without drawing undue attention.

"_Right here and then right again sir"_

What greeted me was a long corridor, the ceiling lined with pipes and what looked like electrical boxes. The corridor was tiered, it had an gentle slope that was broken by small steps and landings, by each landing there were boxes and a terminal. Probably back access points for the stores, bars and restaurants that lined this artery of the Ward. At the bottom furthest away from both of the doors, clearly waiting for someone, was the same Quarian that I had seen earlier. She was leaning against one of the crates. Her body suit had been torn and patched around the bicep. It was on the landing before reaching the level she was on that I scuffed my boot on the floor to give my presence away. She looked my way and it was quickly apparent that a leather jacket wearing, gauss rifle carrying human was not who she expected.

I kept walking closer and when I was a half dozen meters away I spoke "Relax I just have a question. Are you the one who tried to cut a deal with the Shadow Broker?"

"Why?" Her voice was distorted and made slightly electric by the helmet she wore, but despite that it had a vaguely Eastern European feel to it.

I closed my eyes turning on the heat sensitive filters on my right eye's cornea. I couldn't evaluate body language or expression because of her suit and helmet but I could, hopefully, judge heat.

"Because…some incredibly naïve Quarian" she bristled slightly, a wonderful tell "basically told the Broker that she has information that could incite a galactic war and added that she was a nobody that could be murdered and nobody would care and those who did wouldn't realize it for months if not years. Now if that's not bad enough, Saren and his men found out that there was information that could implicate him and now he wants to kill her too."" Her body temperature plunged, a good sign, she clearly wasn't stupid and realized how many levels of shit she had gotten herself into.

I laughed quietly before continuing "So now, this girl has two of the most powerful people in the galaxy hunting her and somehow feels that she'll be safe in the wards."

"Keelah" she breathed...not a word I was familiar with, I made a brief mental to berate Jeeves for not giving me a complete dictionary of the Quarian language.

"Yeah…anyways I'm looking for the Quarian because I have a proposition that may end up saving their life. But if you're not her I'll not waste your time."

"Are you going to kill her?"

"Do I look like a Turian or shadow broker assassin?"

"No…"

"I work for the human systems alliance"

"Can they offer me protection?"

"No idea how safe it will be but I can get you put on an alliance frigate."

"Thank you"

"You're welcome…now let the games begin"

The doors at the other end of to the corridor opened and the trio that Jeeves had spotted walked through. The Turian wore body armor but no helmet, the two Salarians were completely covered. I didn't want to draw my shotgun yet, preferring to avoid a firefight if at all possible. I was fairly confident that my physical enhancements would protect me should a firefight ensue, but the Quarian I wasn't so sure about. I needed her alive and, preferably, in one piece. So we stood there smiling, I was smiling at least her expression was impossible to judge, as Saren's would be assassins came closer. The Turian looked uneasy, as though he expected everything to be routine; go in, kill and, dispose: an amateur. My presence unsettled him, I wasn't sure if it was because of the fact that he heard of what happened to the Shadow Brokers men or not but his anxiety was satisfying

"Who the hell are you?" He asked looking at me. It occurred to me then that Turian music must be a very niche product, or rely heavily on instruments because their voices sounded like gravel being dragged along a chalkboard: rough and monotone.

"Your replacement"

"What? His eyes darted from me to the Quarian and back in rapid succession"

I took a step forward "Your replacement" I spoke with exaggerated clarity and slowness for effect. "You failed to catch the Quarian before she reached the Citadel" I drew my pistol but kept it at my side. "You failed to intercept her as she exited her ship, a simple fucking shot from the upper levels of citadel control : Specter business is all you would have had to have said. But you failed to do that, you failed to kill her on the presidium. So tell me…" I punctuated each word by with a jabbing him in the chest with my pistol, I was inside his shields any shot wouldn't have to deal with interference. "What fucking good are you?"

"I…" He stuttered unable to come up with anything coherent.

"You are a failure and Specter Arterius doesn't bother with failures." I raised my pistol from his chest to head and fired, he was dead before his body hit the ground.

I pointed my pistol at one of the Salarians who took a quick step back raising his empty hands "Stop fucking squirming and dispose of his body in the keepers protein vats and then get the hell off the station. I'll deal with the blood and the Quarian."

"Yes sir." One of them squeaked.

They touched a couple buttons on their wrists first enveloping the body in a purple mass effect field before suspending it above the ground. As soon as it was airborne, they ran from the hallway vanishing beyond the doors. What they did after that was none of my concern.

I turned to the Quarian "Well that went better than I expected."

"You killed him…"

"Either you and me or him and I liked the whole us not getting shot bit."

"I can take care of myself you know" She said as she crossed her arms, all that was missing was a little stamp of her foot.

"Undoubtedly…" I trailed off _"What is it Jeeves?"_

"_The Commander appears to be in a spot of bother in Choras Den."_

I groaned _"Explain"_

"_She's pinned down."_

"_By?"_

"_Gunfire"_

"_No kidding?"_

"Do you have a gun?"

She pulled out a pistol: A small mass produced piece of crap. "No…that's not a gun…here." I pulled the Crusader from my back and handed it to her "N7 Crusader, fires slugs not a buckshot and kicks like a horse."

"Horse?"

"It has a hell of a recoil."

"Why are you giving this to me?" A worried not crept into her voice

"Because we are going to go rescue someone else" I said a grin slowly forming on my face at the prospect of impending violence.

"_Right then left"_

We headed out the corridor, following Jeeves's instruction we came to a bridge with bullet holes in the wall and two dead Turians lying on the floor.

"Saren's men."

"How do you know" The Quarian asked, eyes still fixed on the bloody corpses. They hadn't gone down without a fight.

"The Shadow Broker's assassins wear full black armor."

"Oh…" She trailed off

"I didn't catch your name."

"Hm?" She looked up at me "Oh…Tali'Zhora nar Rayya"

"A pleasure…well Tali are you ready to dance?"

"Dance?"

I grinned in response walking up to the doors, glaring at them when they didn't slide open.

"They're sealed, give me a moment to hack them."

"Not needed, but before we begin one question. Left or right?"

"Left or Right?"

"When we go in and start shooting, which side are you going to go to? Left of right?" I asked as I switched my gauss rifle from its semi-automatic to burst setting letting a low hum fill the air.

"Left"

"Good choice Tali, solid choice."

"Wait…your name?"

I closed my eyes turning to her, my first real firefight "Von Komjat"

I bowed slightly before spinning on the balls of my feet and driving my fist towards the door. My plan had been to hit it once to get it out of place creating a small gap then tear it outwards before striding in and shooting the place up. I usually preferred to use more subtlety but there were times when a grand entrance was the most effective, unfortunately the universe once again conspired to disappoint me. As I brought my fist towards the door, I felt the same power flow through me as I had before. My fist never connected, what happened next was both a feat of improvisation and a satisfying display of raw power.

The instant before my fist hit the doors I felt the power surge exploding from my palms and instead of leaving a small hole in the door I could exploit to rip it open I ended up blowing them apart sending the doors into the Den. I slipped my rifle off my back into my left hand and drew my trench knife in my right. Standing in the entrance, I was vaguely aware of Tali standing behind me. I laughed to myself: nothing quite like a first impression. And this was a grand one, I was haloed by light and dust, the inside of the Den was probably dim under normal circumstances and now was even darker.

"Heeere's Johnny!" I yelled into the den.

I fired a burst at the mercenaries on the left, screams could be heard above the sound of gunfire. Tali followed up by flicking a grenade towards the improvised barricade. The thugs dove for the bar one of them going down with a bullet through his head courtesy of Shepard and company.

I used the largest door piece as a ramp to climb onto the stage the dominated the club, out of the corner of my eye I saw blood staining the edge of the door. Whoever had been hiding behind the counter had gotten a brutal lobotomy. Among the poles was a knelt one of Fists's mercenaries, taking potshots at Shepard with his shotgun. Too far away to do any real damage to their shields but impossible to ignore.

He heard me land on the stage. Turning to face me only served to present me with a much more obvious target: his chest. I brought my rifle around, keeping a charge in the coils allowed me to use the rifle like a stun baton. 80 000 volts at 30 amps, the electricity arced across his chest, dead before he could scream. The smell of charred flesh filled the air.

I spun to my right pressing on the trigger of my gauss rifle throwing bullets out until the charge wore off. With the distraction that Tali and I had provided, Shepard, Ashley and the Turian had succeeded in pushing past the thugs that had kept them pinned down.

I jumped from the stage and rushed at a trio of men who had used a series of tables and their shields to make killing them more of a chore. One of them turned to get a shot at me, a burst from Shepard took down his shield and a jacketed hollow point rounds from my pistol killed him. By the time the other two had reacted I was already in-between them, the one in front of me went down the spikes of my trench knife connected with his temple rupturing the meningeal artery and forcing the skull into the brain. If he wasn't dead on impact he would be shortly.

Before I could turn, the man behind me decided to drive the butt end of his rifle into my atlas and follow it up with a haymaker to my temple. I stumbled forward and then felt wet on the back of my neck, looking back I saw Garrus looking down the scope of a rifle.

I was jerked back to reality by Shepard a wordless roar before her body blurred and she went crashing into a Krogan with enough force to send chairs and tables flying and staggaring the Krogan. She unloaded into the beast which only seemed to piss it off more. They took point blank shots at one another until a particularly powerful blow from the Krogan send Shepard reeling.

"Oi! You! Frog thing! What the fuck kind of crossbreed are you? Half Salarian, half Turian?"

Apparently I touched on a cultural nerve because it turned to face me and pulled the trigger on its shotgun despite the distance between the two of us the buckshot ended up leaving shallow cuts on my face. The Korgan roared or spat I couldn't tell and tossed the gun to the side steam coming out of the thermal clip compartment. I switched the grip on my knife so I could stab it down, between the ridges of its cranial armor.

"_I don't think this is a good idea sir."_

"_Neither do I Jeeves" _I really didn't, reinforced skeleton or not I knew this was going to hurt.

I raised the blade above my head once more feeling the Biotics rush into my fists, I was about to run into something the size and weight of a car, laughing with mania I charged. As we collided I brought the knife down stabbing it in between the plates of its armor as I had planned. I didn't plan on being thrown like a ragdoll. The Krogan's head armor was jagged and he had dipped his head and raised it the moment my knife was sliding home. It felt like I had been hit by a pickup with sharp grill ornaments. I was sent flying into the bar, my body broke through the material leaving me coughing and wheezing in a pool of alcohol, shattered glass and no small measure of blood. The glass had also scratched my jacked and left bloody furrows in my arms and face. I grabbed a still stable section of the bar and dragged myself upright, vision blurred from the force of the impact. The Krogan had, mercifully, gone down astonishingly though was the fact that it was trying to get back up, my knife still stuck in the back of its skull. It turned to face me again, an expression of rage, complete and utter blind fury. No hatred, no malice just a primal urge to kill and murder.

Shepard grabbed the shotgun the Krogan dropped vaulted the wreckage and pulled the trigger. It's head slammed down and stayed there. I stalked over cursing to myself, I'd have to get this jacket fixed or replaced, as I pulled my knife from the Krogan.

I nodded to Shepard heading over to a section of the bar that hadn't been completely reduced splinters. Finding a highball glass and a bottle of rum, pouring myself a couple shots worth into the glass I offered it to Shepard who declined. Glass crunched underfoot as I made my way to the man whose throat I had slashed.

"That's just fucked." I turned to see Ashley standing behind me looking at the body, she looked up at me blood still dripping off my jacket.

"Good timing though..." Shepard grinned, blood and gore...it suited her.

I sighed, shrugging off my jacket and pulling out a small pair of pliers. Shepard cocked and eyebrow "What are those for?"

"I need to pull the glass out of my skin." I set to work finding the largest pieces of glass. It was painful.

"The three of you were pinned down in the doorway, blasting the main doors in distracted them but even with our help we were still outnumbered. So being theatrical seemed like the best way to get their attention. As for why I charged into them and started slashing, it seemed like the most effective way to get them to stop shooting at you."

Ashley wore her heart on her sleeve, she turned to Shepard "Commander, courage is one thing but I don't want someone with a death wish watching my back."

My temper was starting to fray, I was in pain pulling bits of lead from my chest and a twenty something grunt was questioning me "If it wasn't for me you'd still be grinding your way out of that clusterfuck with Fist's thgus."

Ashley started to speak but before she could get a word out the Commander cut her off "We found out where the Quarian is who has information on Saren and is…or was headed anyway. We have to go…now!"

I cleared my throat "Commander…that's already been taken care of."

"What?" Shepard almost hissed with impatience

I grinned and pointed my thumb over my shoulder at Tali who was standing at the back of the party, interactions with non-Quarians seemed to be a weak point of hers. Shepard looked from her to me, perplexed, before comprehension dawned on her.

"Oh…" she nodded, walking towards Tali as she spoke "You're the Quarian, Fist mentioned."

"Yes er…I think so." She was fidgeting under the Commander's gaze

Shepard laughed with relief extending her hand "Commander Jessica Shepard of the Normandy"

"Tali'Zhora nar Rayya" The two shook, I couldn't help but grin. The meeting of species.

Shepard turned to me "How did you end up finding her?"

I shrugged "Luck, intuition and, experience. She looked like she was being hunted, you mentioned a Quarian so I put two and two together and figured that the chances were good that she was individual we were looking for."

"Some intuition" Ashley said arms still crossed.

"What can I say? I'm a natural. Now if you'll excuse me Commander I'm going to make myself scarce."

"No, I need you to come with us. You were part of this mission, you're part of the debrief."

I sighed "Fine but that's it I'm not standing in front of the council. That sort of the defeats the purpose of being invisible."

"That won't be necessary. Tali has the data."

I nodded drinking the liquor I had poured myself. We walked out of the Den, bullet holes in the tables and chairs, sections of the wall blown out by grenades and other explosives, some sections had been etched corrosive rounds. Stripper poles bent or destroyed, bodies left where they had fallen. Alcohol and blood mixed to form flammable noxious puddles on the floor. The bar destroyed where I had gone flying through it, bottles smashed by gunfire of when they were knocked off the shelves. A particularly large puddle of high proof alcohol had formed just to my left.

As I reached into my breast pocket I heard Garrus comment sardonically "I wonder how C-Sec is going to handle this mess"

"No idea" I said as I brought a Cohiba to my lips striking a match on the bar counter lighting the cigar "But, it'll be a bit more difficult now." I tossed the still burning match into a puddle of alcohol behind me a massive scented flame flashed into existence before disappearing almost as quickly.

Shepard grabbed my shoulder and spun me around to face her "What the hell?!"

"It smells nicer now."

Shepard shook her head in exasperation.

Coffee and guns...not a bad day all in all.


	6. Not a God After All

A soldier walked in, the bars on his uniform marked him as a lieutenant, bloody murder painted on his face, he saw the Piano moved from the hotel lobby.

"Darius" He growled

He stalked into the elevator and punched the buttons hitting both his floor and the next couple as well.

"FUCK!"

Twenty stories and a couple stops later; the lieutenant was seething. As soon as the door to the floor apartment opened he was met by the delicate strains of classical music that invoked memories of spring which would switch at random to Jazz that was suited to a swing club: A starker contrast to his mood was almost impossible.

"WRONG FUCKING SENTIMENT DARIUS!"

"Is this better?" Darius asked laughing as he switched to big band blues

"No. Move" Darius and the piano stool he was sitting on were sent flying.

"Really? The 5th symphony? Feeling melodramatic?"

"We… are… screwed." The lieutenant's anger was draining as he hammered the keys.

"Why? Drink?" Darius asked

"Yeah…what are you making?"

"Pornstar."

"No…gods no. I'll take a Texan tea."

"So why are we fucked?" Darius asked before busying himself with the drinks.

"We're the terrorists…"

"Why?!" His eyes bugged out.

"That's a lot of vodka…"

"Shit…"

"I'm not done though. In this run, we're a group of terrorists attempting to infiltrate a military base after another failed attack on a different installation a few hours before. So everyone is going to be on high alert AND half our team was arrested."

Darius handed his CO one of the drinks before letting himself sag into a chair "Why...? We won the last war game. Why are they doing this to us?"

"Other than because they're Americans and are jealous that we keep kicking 'em?"

"Oh god…What did you do?" Darius's lips were pressed together, eyebrows raised and, head tilted slightly to the right.

"Well you remember those guys we punched out last year?"

"Yeah…"

"Well the guy whose nose I broke got promoted since then and was put in charge of the administrative crap related to the war game. So his guys are on base and…yeah. I don't think he's over it."

"Fuck…you're an idiot."

"Yep…call the boys and play something smooth. I need to plan."

Darius laughed "Yes Sir. Just be sure to tell me if my sentiment is off."

-Excerpt from Jeeves's memory banks

* * *

We must have been a strange sight: two humans, a Turian, a Quarian, and a human mercenary.

"That was quite the entry..." Garrus said. As with every other Turian I had heard speak, it was impossible to determine the inflection. He could be pleased or pissed, I wouldn't know.

"It sounded like you guys needed some back up and based on the sounds I figured that you were pinned down in the back of the bar. So…I figured a distraction was in order. Discretion isn't always the better part of valour."

"Please" Ashley sniffed "We were fine."

"Oh, undoubtedly but if I hadn't been paying attention our meal ticket would have been killed, kidnapped or, alive but severely injured. So I hope you'll forgive me for being somewhat pleased with myself and with how things worked out."

"Indeed" Garrus's mandibles twitched slightly "How's your head commander?"

"Fine…well as fine as it could be."

"You headed butted a Krogan. I'm surprised that you're alive to be honest."

"Heh…me too" Shepard said laughing "Didn't you call it a half breed or something?"

"Yeah…I mean…Krogans look like juiced up Salarian, Turian hybrid."

"Juiced up?" Shepard asked confused.

"What? None of you have heard that expression?"

Blank faces all around. I sighed, another reminder that I was in a different world.

"Juiced up, on steriods."

"Ah…"

Further discussion was halted as the elevators opened to an uncharacteristically calm and quiet presidium. The presidium was never as loud as the wards but now it seemed like a deathly still had set over the presidium, even the lights were dimmer than usual. The diplomats and dignitaries had all faded to the background. Those who hadn't fled into their offices, trying to make the most of this for their species, were sitting in the dark corners and alcoves speaking in hushed voices; scheming, plotting, gossiping and, planning. Evidently, rumours of what had happened today had spread quicker than I could have anticipated. But then…why wouldn't it? Dead assassins, windows shot out, a massive drug bust, firefights in the wards and, an all out assault on a bar run by a criminal with ties to organized crime. And of course everything was filtered through the lenses provided by rumors of the Shadow Broker and a rouge specter.

"The presidium is so dead…" Ashley's ability to point out the obvious was quite advanced.

"In all my time at C-Sec…it's never been this quiet." Garus was looking at everything as though he was seeing it for the first time.

"Yeah, let's get to the ambassador's office."

We made it half way to the offices before I felt a pain at the back of my head.

_"Jeeves, are you downloading anything into my implants?"_

_"No sir. I've been reading."_

_"Oh…fuck…"_

_"Sir? Ah…"_

_"This is going to be fun."_

_"To be honest sir…what did you expect? You've downloaded quite a bit into your implants, almost as much as Totichka."_

_"Yeah I know, but mine are slightly more developed than hers were. So…"_

_"mmm. True, but…biotic abilities also rely on the nervous system. It's quite possible that that had an influence."_

_"Well hopefully a headache is as bad as it's going to get."_

_"And if it get's worse, remind me to say I told you so."_

_"I can always count on you for moral support Jeeves."_

_"Of course."_

I was automatically following the others, through the presidium. Avina and the embassy receptionist were still at their stations, but for once, Avina was silent and the smile embassy receptionist greeted us with was tight.

"Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson are waiting for you in the Human Embassy Commander."

"Thank you"

A short flight of stairs later and we could see, if not hear the ambassador pacing through his offices. As soon as we opened the doors he started yelling.

"Shepard! What the hell have you been doing?! A firefight in the wards? An all out assault on Chora's Den? And you!" He rounded on me "Rumours of a human assassin killing people in the upper presidium and then I see you vaulting over railings sprinting into the wards!"

I couldn't help but grin; It had been an eventful afternoon.

The ambassador faced Shepard again "Do you know how many…" I ambassador blinked a couple times, just noticing Tali "Who's this? A Quarian? What are you up to Shepard"

"Making your day Ambassador. She has information linking Saren to the Geth. Which I would have told you if you hadn't jumped down my throat as soon as I walked in."

"My apologies Commander. Maybe you should start at the beginning, Miss…?

"My name is Tali. Tali' Zhora nar Rayya."

"We don't see many Quarians here. What made you leave the flotilla?"

"I was on my pilgrimage…"

The rest of Tali's speech about her pilgrimage and her people were drowned about by a stab of pain arching across the curve of my skull down into my spine. The pain was spreading across my head along the main synthetic nerves in my brain. My vision swam before returning with another spike of pain that settled into a dull throb.

"The Geth revere the Reapers as gods, the pinnacle of non-organic life. And they believe Saren knows how to bring the Reapers back."

"The council are just going to love this." Udina shook his head rubbing his eyes

"The Reapers represent a threat to every species in Citadel space. We have to tell them."

"No matter what they make of the rest of this, those audio files prove that Saren is a traitor." The Captain's face was blank but his eyes were glowing, this was personal.

"What about her?" Ashley jabber her finger in Tali's direction.

"My name is Tali!" Indignation was audible even through her mask.

"I did promise her that we'd take her with us Commander" I looked up trying to focus, my vision swam eyes refusing to focus "…plus she's somewhat competent with the shotgun I gave her. That and the fact that she's lived her entire life on ships ."

Shepard nodded "I'll take all the help I can get."

"Thanks you won't regret this." Tali moved to stand next to Shepard.

"Commander" Udina drew the focus back to himself "Anderson and I will go ahead and get things ready with the Council. Take a few moments to collect yourself, then meet us in the Tower."

Anderson and Udina walked past us leaving the five of us alone in the office.

"Commander if I'm not need I'll stay here if you don't mind. Some of my activities have probably been noticed and I'd prefer not to draw attention to myself."

"You OK?" Shepard asked, clearly concerned

"Yeah I'm fine. Biotics took more out of me than I thought they would."

Shepard nodded sympathetically "Come on Ashley, we'll meet Kaiden at the base of the Tower."

"What's he doing?"

"Dealing with Wrex…"

The rest of the sentence was cut off as the doors closed behind them. I fell into one of the ambassador's office chairs, my head in my hands. The headache was getting worse and my vision wasn't improving.

_"I told you so."_

_"Thank Jeeves. It's great to know that the butler I built is a smartass."_

_"You did create me in your own image."_

_"And this is one of the times that I regret it"_

_"I sincerely hope that you had the foresight to bring suppressants with you."_

_"For the haemolacria? Yeah…but I have to wait until it progresses to that point and by then there's no guarantee that I'll be in any state to inject it."_

_"Why didn't we ever fix that?"_

_"Because we were gods remember? And we always worked in teams so it wasn't necessary."_

_"That was what is commonly referred to as a rhetorical question."_

_I grunted ignoring Jeeves "In any case, the odds that it'll proceed that far is slim. Haemolacria usually only happened on the most stressful missions."_

_"And you're not under physical stress now?"_

_"Yes but those were also psychologically stressful"_

_"And sitting in a human embassy, on a massive alien made superstructure that also serves as the centre for galactic government, after having committed multiple felonies isn't? And of course this isn't the universe you were born in."_

_"Not really. Felonies and shooting up bars and assassins. The bars remind me of my youth at any rate._

_"The war games. It was always enjoyable to see how people couldn't understand why ambushing you was impossible and how you were able to shot camouflaged assassins."_

_"Yep who could have thought that I had an AI plugged into my nervous system."_

_"Nobody. Which is it worked."_

_"And once again you take the fun out of it."_

I coughed, checked the palm of my hand, no blood, and grinned. A drop of sweat fell from my nose into my open hand. My face didn't pale, my blood pressure was too high for that, but I could feel my eyes widen, everything came into focus before it blurred again. The pain in my head was crippling now the pressure was causing my ears to ring.

_"This is not going to be fun" _

I never understood how people could possibly describe pain as mind numbing. Pain sharpened the senses, it clears the mind and allows us to focus completely on the sensation causing the pain. As I drew my nails over my face I could feel the pain sharpen and recede slightly but as soon as I removed my fingers the pain returned even stronger than before: It still hadn't peaked. Pain clears the mind of everything else, pain and fear are the things that drive us: not happiness or love. Those things are transient and they exist as a contrast to pain. It is the darker emotions, pain and fear and misery, that make us feel so alive. The difference is that fear and misery leave us capable of doing something about it, they drive us to improve our situation. Pain is the cruelest master; it bestows upon us crystal clear hindsight but leaves us so incapacitated that we are incapable of doing anything about it. In hindsight it was obvious that I shouldn't have used my implants, shouldn't have used biotics so carelessly but…hindsight is always prefect. Now all I wanted was for this fucking pain to end so that I could analyze my implants.

Crippling pain drove through my head. It felt as though I had been hit at the back of the head by a sledgehammer.

_"This is one time where I'd rather have been wrong…"_

Blood started dripping from my nostrils, those were often the first veins to burst, and into my open palm. The few drips turned into a steady stream from both nostrils. My ears were next causing my hearing to go completely but the phantom ringing to grow louder. Then my eyes, the pain of having ruptured eyes was almost as bad as the pressure, burst. The pain was incredible and left me immobile: It was all I could to keep from screaming in pain. A cough racked my body, causing me to double over in pain, insult to injury, I was coughing blood.

The condition if I could call it that progressed to it's next and final stage, my sweat turned red with blood, not necessarily painful but terrifying for anyone who didn't understand what was going on. If the operative wasn't crippled by pain, their horrific appearance either aided in their escape or caused them to be shot dead on sight. In any case it prevented them from being captured and interrogated.

_"Now would be a good time to administer those suppressants sir…"_

Half blind by blood and pain, my hands shook as I started rifling through my jacket pockets looking for the silver case that held both the injector and the vials of suppressant that were used to neutralize the stress hormones that were flooding my body and rapidly reduce my blood pressure. Usually within a couple minutes the pain would fade and within 10 minutes the bleeding would stop and within half an hour, the blood would drain from the eyes.

I found the case in my jacket and pulled it out, it took me a couple attempts but I eventually got it open. Getting the vials into the injector was more of a struggle. The first vial flew and shattered on the floor, the second also hit the ground but didn't break, on my third attempt I knocked the entire case to the floor scattering the injector and vials. I fell to the ground doubled over in pain as my focus was again robbed. I reached around me, flailing almost, grabbing the injector and sliding it towards me, scrabbling on the ground for a vial I managed to curl my fingers around one.

Next thing I knew a pair of boots were standing in front of me

"What the hell?" I didn't know if the voice was real or not

"Antidote" I spat out along a fair bit of thick half congealed blood

A pair of hands and a slight hiss, so different was its sound that it cut through the ringing of my ears.

The minutes passed and I slowly relaxed as the pain left me; conscious and keenly aware that I was in a pool of my own blood. I stood unsteadily facing away from the mystery figure.

"You don't happen to have a rag on you do you?"

"I don't…" He chuckled, definitely a man. Hard, steady, gravelly voice. "The ambassadors spare jacket."

A jacket landed on the table in front of me, which I took gratefully. It wasn't the most absorbent of materials but it did the job well enough, the amount of blood that I wiped off my face was…unsettling. Now that I could see better I looked down at the rest of me: My clothes were ruined, both my shirt and jeans were saturated with blood and my hair was probably matted with it too. I'd need a shower before I headed out again if I didn't want to wind up shot by C-Sec on the presidium, especially since they were still getting over their first scare of the day.

"What happened?"

"Unintended secondary consequences."

"Secondary consequences of what?"

"My implants and biotics. It would seem that my biotics use my synthetic nervous system as a conduit and that along with heavy usage of my implants caused an intense adverse reaction"

"I see…you're the man the Captain Anderson mentioned."

"That would be me." I pirouetted to face the man "And you have me at a disadvantage…"

"Admiral Steven Hacket"

"A pleasure" I offered him my blood soaked hand which, to my surprise, he took.

_"Well that went well..."_

_"Hardly..." _

_"You weren't shot, arrested and, he didn't even call for backup. I'd call that a little victory sir!"_

_"A victory would be me not relying on him to stab me with a vial full of drugs after finding me on the ground like some strung out addict. If this is a victory then it is pyrrhic at best. No this was a tactical advance backwards."_

_"I'm glad to see your sense of humour is intact. I'd hate to lose the opportunity to argue symantics."_

_"Yeah, can you imagine how dull life would be without a bit of dry wit."_

_"No...I can't. That's the first thing I remember you coding me with. My first thought was, my god does this man have priorities."_

"I think... you need a change of clothes. And I need some answers."

"Which I will be more than happy to provide, preferably in that order."


	7. Friends: High and Low

For the fourth day in a row, food riots engulfed the city centre. Several fires were started in the Financial District and widespread looting occurred in the Warehouse District, as concerns over a stable food supply grow. Although lab grown proteins have gone some way to solving the worlds looming food crisis many staple crops are continuing to see a dramatic rise in prices as demand rises and extreme weather hinders production. We expect the military to be called in overnight and martial law will, in all likelihood, be declared.

-Newscast 2059

* * *

"I need a spare alliance uniform brought to the ambassador's office. Extra Large…no not a dress uniform. Both…yes. You" The Admiral pointed to me "head to the bathroom."

"There's a bathroom in here?"

"That panel slides across there's a bathroom behind it."

"And you know this how?" I raised my eyebrows quizzically.

"Security mentioned it once." Teasing answers out of the admiral would be damn near impossible. His expression was blank and he gave away nothing more than he had to.

I shrugged "Works for me… What are we going to do about the blood?"

"I haven't thought that far yet. Step in. You're still sweating blood." He pressed the insignia on his shirt "Bring me a towel…two towels, with the uniform."

"They won't ask questions?" The man staring back at me was almost unrecognizable. My eyes were swollen and completely bloodshot to the point where the whites of my eyes were completely red and the iris's were purple. Blood has dried on my ears and along where I neglected to wipe it away. Congealed blood in my nose fell like flakes of paint as a I tilted my head. Bloody sweat still beaded on my skin. All in all, I looked like I had stood in front of someone who had quite literally been blown apart.

"Sir." A boot heel clicked on the ground, protocol was lost in shock "What the hell happened here?"

"Classified James."

"Let's just call it an unexpected reaction to new implants" I walked out of the washroom and, as best I could, met James in the eye. He was horrified, but he didn't flinch or show it any more than the instincts he couldn't supress. I extended my hand he moved to take it "No I don't want to shake your hand…I'm sweating blood. I need one of those towels."

"Uhhh…right" He was a traditional infantryman: A beefsteak with scars and tattoos.

I took the towel and returned to the mirror.

"Sir…with all due respect…what the fuck?"

"An alliance project." Any congeniality in the Admirals voice had been replaced by steel.

"Understood sir" James dropped the

"Whatever else you may be used to; the alliance has a chain of command. Respecting it is in everybody's interest."

"I'll take that under advisement admiral. I just wanted to see how he'd react" I shrugged and added as an after thought "similar to what I did with you."

"You were incapacitated on the floor."

"I was in excruciating pain true but I was in command of my faculties enough to inject myself had it come to that, what was surprising was how quickly an officer of your station stepped in to help someone he didn't know in a situation he'd never been exposed to, but you're not a blue-blooded officer so I shouldn't have been too surprised."

"Perceptive…for future reference I don't appreciate pop quiz's"

"Because you don't like being caught off guard or you don't like being wrong."

"Both, but I especially don't like being wrong or looking incompetent."

"Fair enough" The admiral was an interesting character, used to his job and used to doing it well.

I stepped into the shower, the hot water was torture to my abused senses, the cold water; hardly better.

_"__Well this is not how I envisioned my day going…"_

_"__If it's any consolation, this has been rather bizarre for me as well. Being left alone in a lab for ten years then abruptly travelling to new worlds…it's been quite the trip. But then…I wasn't the fool who went and abused my implants until I bled from my eyes."_

_"__No you're just the poorly designed AI that decided to stick around in my twisted mind."_

_"__I'm a reflection of my creator. If I'm poorly designed, then that is a result of your own failures."_

_"__You're capable of exceeding your own programming."_

_"__But if I did that, then I wouldn't be surprised by your idiosyncrasies."_

_"__Well at least one of us enjoys surprises."_

_"__You would too if your first instinct wasn't to assume everything wanted to kill or use you."_

_"__Possibly…but taking advice from a non corporeal AI whose existence is a secret from the universe at large seems stupid."_

_"__Does my non-corporeal nature make my advice not worth following? Your life would be much more interesting with a health dose of surprises."_

_"__Wasn't the bleeding from my eyes a symptom of an overly interesting life?"_

_"__I wouldn't go that far sir. Your life is stressful but not particularly dynamic."_

_"__Not dynamic?! How d'you figure that?"_

_"__Every day is the same. You wake up, kill people, eat, spend time working on some pet project and then end your day with someone trying to kill you."_

_"__My god! Jeeves you're right! My life has lost all luster! What am I to do? I've got it! I'll reduce myself to bosons and other non mass carrying particles then by way of quantum tunneling I'll take a vacation in a foreign universe. And in this new universe I'll get myself mixed up with some plot to resurrect a race of sentient machines hell bent of exterminating life. Doesn't that sound like a good time."_

_"__Very."_

_"__Good…now I should probably deal with the admiral."_

_"__That would be wise sir."_

The alliance uniform was surprisingly comfortable if a bit tight around my shoulders.

"So…Mr?" Admiral Hacket looked at me expectantly.

"James Smythe"

"You're choice in pseudonym leaves much to be desired."

"You'll have to take my word for it given that I have no identification and no plans to get any. Besides even if it is false all that matters is that you know what to call me."

"That is one way of looking at it…what did I just see?"

"The negative side effects of over utilizing my implants."

"So that's it? You overuse your implants. Get an injection and then you're fine?" Hacket asked surprised.

"Hardly. For example, I'm deaf right now. I can't hear anything since my eardrums are perforated, my vision is still returning to normal and even after the red tinge fades, myopia is going to be a problem. My head is fucking killing me and my muscles are on the verge of failure. Needless to say, I won't be vaulting over anything in the near future."

"You're deaf?"

"Nearly yes. Perforated ear-drums are not conductive to hearing."

"Why is your speech perfect?"

"I can hear through the vibrations in my throat" I shrugged "That and I'm reading your lips. It helps that you speak slowly and don't use flowery language."

The Admiral grunted "How long will it take you to be fit for combat?"

"Ten seconds if I shoot myself up with epinephrine again. But I'd be unconscious for a couple days after an hour or two of frenzied activity. Fourty-eight hours at most without . Why?"

The admiral motioned to the clean end of the ambassadors table.

"We know nothing about you other than what you've told us, which isn't much." The admiral chuckled "Even if you gave us your autobiography, it wouldn't be worth anything since we can't verify anything that you've told us. So for now, the alliance is assuming that what you have told us is true."

"What I've told you is true enough. Besides, at the time it's not as if Anderson could have done anything else. He wasn't expecting someone as heavily modified as me."

"I heard about that. What have you done to yourself exactly?"

"Biologically?"

"Start with that"

"My muscles and bones are much denser than normal. My skin is harder so I'm resistant to small arms, I'll bruise but they won't pierce my skin, but large caliber rounds will still injure me. My eyes, ears and nose are more sensitive than normal. And I can heal much faster than an average person. My heart and lungs are enlarged allowing me to go farther faster than a normal person. The structure of my spine has been altered to be almost indestructible, my spine can support around 1 tonne of pressure per vertebrae before it breaks. The interstitial fluid surrounding my brain has been fundamentally altered to increase its ability to absorb shocks making me more resistant to head trauma.

"Any other enhancements?"

"I have a sub-dermal weave in my muscles, skin and, bones to further increase my strength as well as a secondary nervous system allowing me to interface with machines."

"That's the system that nearly killed you?"

"Yep, it can cause a positive feedback loop which overrides the negative feedback loop that regulates the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems."

"Meaning what?"

"My body produces too many stress hormone, adrenaline and cortisol among others which raises blood pressure, hormones are released that burn through my body's glucose and glycogen stores which in turn causes extreme fatigue. The spiking blood pressures causes capillaries to burst which is what causes all the bleeding and, if the overuse is extensive enough, can cause bleeding in the brain leading to death."

Admiral Hacket leaned back in his chair thinking. "How many years did you spend upgrading yourself?"

"A decade. Give or take but that was mostly because I also had to develop the implants. Agents could be outfitted between six to twelve months."

"Could you duplicate them?"

"You mean modify other people?" Hacket nodded "In theory yes. In practice maybe."

"What's stopping you?"

"Ethics. I'm not sure what this universe's ethical laws are but I can almost guarantee it'll fall foul of some, no actually all of them. And more importantly, to me at least, much of my equipment was highly specialized and I didn't have the time to bring it over with me."

"Assuming ethics were a non-issue. Could you replicate your lost research?"

"Maybe, I wouldn't know until I tried and that would take time and a well outfitted facility and no regulatory interference."

"I see…" Admiral Hacket drifted off, lost in thought "Anderson mentioned that your military history was quite extensive."

"Yeah. I was attached to the Fourth Corps as part of the Medical Brigade during the Mongol War…"

"You were a doctor?"

"Originally. I spent my time in the US Army as a doctor, surgeon and, psychologist depending on the situation and what was needed. Sometimes I was all three."

"When did that change?"

"After the Mongol War."

"Mongol War?"

"Yeah, the Mongol War lasted, on paper, almost a decade, it only progressed beyond border skirmishes once the Nanite Defuser was launched by the Gia-Movement." I answered the obvious question "It was a cloud of Nanite's released into jet streams that searched and consumed weapons grade fissile material. Once that happened, all bets were off and things went strait to hell. No MAD, nothing to fear."

"After the Mongol War?"

"After that… mine was one of the few military medical teams that weren't completely destroyed by UAV's, because of that and my skillset I was attached to companies that were being dropped into isolated areas of hostile territory."

"You were part of the Airborne?"

"Not really, I was never a pathfinder I just jumped with them and patched them up after they got shot. I only ever finished jump school. I spent the rest of my contract with the military in various actions across Africa, The Middle East and, Latin America."

"How long was your contract?"

"It would have been another decade after the War. But I died before then."

"You died?"

"Yeah…over the course of roughly 36 hours, various special interest groups came together to destroy thousands of landmarks and structures the world over. I…vehemently disagreed with the government response so I and the rest of the platoon staged our deaths and went hunting."

"Hunting?" Hacket raised an eyebrow at my choice of words.

"Yeah, since we were dead we could do things that no government could or would do. Over the next decade and a half we hunted down and killed everyone who was even tangentially involved in the bombings."

"Tangentially involved means what exactly?"

"Involved in any way shape or form. We all had a very personal stake in the game. In any case for over forty years the Hangmen as we became known operated to preserve the fragile status quo and incentivize politicians and governments to discover peace."

"You were black operations?"

"No. We were paramilitary, and suprajudicial. In any case after twenty odd years fighting, I got bored and devoted my time to research and other intellectual pursuits. It was during this time that a bioweapon either escaped or was released that ended up killing a large portion of the worlds population…" I trailed off "We never actually found out if it was a bio weapon or just an anti-biotic resistant plague but in any case, I became persona non grata almost everywhere and teams were sent after me to drag me in."

"Why?"

"Think about it Admiral everything I've told you, all the implants and upgrades I've given myself. Imagine that two hundred years ago you could have attempted to capture me and force me to divulge the methods I used to create them? Can you imagine the kind of military advantage that that could have conferred? It would have tipped the balance of power in favor of whoever managed to capture me. Even a thousand men with these kinds of genetic modifications could make a huge difference in any conflict. The world was broken, checks and balances non-existent and, with militaries devastated the world over, what better time was there for another resource war if you KNEW that your military would win quickly with minimal losses would you not pursue it? And in the same vein, if you knew that as long as I was alive you'd never be able to because as soon as you tried to break the peace you'd wind up dead."

"Better dead than among the enemy. I can understand that."

"So can I. It's why I tried to avoid killing any of the operatives who were sent after me unless I had to. Their orders made tactical sense."

"One final question, suprajudicial?"

"We started our operations in the middle east, most of our targets were either Arab or African based terrorist groups so the western world decided that we were a non-issue and by the time we spread into the western world the masses saw us as some sort of heroic avengers who were bringing the fight to the bad guys. In any case the average person decided that we were worth getting behind. So when we started taking western businessmen and politicians to task, the people backed us and governments were powerless to stop us. It helped that our progression was slow. From Africa and the middle east to Latin America and the into Western Europe and then North America. By the time we entered north America we had enough public support that governments couldn't touch us."

It was bizarre really, how easily malleable the western world was. On one hand we had dedicated our lives to preserving western morality but it was that same mentality that allowed us to so easily circumvent the Western judicial system. The uneducated masses, the people, the electorate, were on our side. To them, we were heroes, we were the people that dispensed ultimate justice, we were the ones who went after the monsters that the media created, we were the people that kept the crooked businessmen and corrupt politicians at bay. As far as the working man was concerned, we were defenders of democracy and the true representatives of the people.

"Hmmm…." The admiral drifted off, staring off into the pink clouds of the nebula. "In the end, it comes to the same thing, either I assume that you're being honest or I assume that you're lying. Your performance today has shown that you are capable of things that most people shouldn't be possible for any member of the alliance military, furthermore your condition does back up your story. I see no reason to trouble the rest of alliance command with you and your existence, not for now anyway. I want you to assist Commander Shepard in any way possible" Admiral Hacket chuckled to himself.

"Understood" I could feel the lines in my face pull together and the corners of my lips twitch. Sure I wasn't exactly used to receiving orders, but it did make life simpler. No matter what else, I had an ally in Admiral Hacket which was not only a rare thing but an important one. I had a patron in the upper echelons of the alliance: someone who would do whatever was necessary to advance the cause of Shepard and the Alliance.

"I'll be in touch with you shortly about reviving your projects."

I bowed slightly "Thank you Admiral…" I couldn't resist asking "Why though?"

"Because… like you said, you can be advantageous to the alliance, and I'd rather that you like us than hate us…and more importantly Shepard needs all the help she can get if the Geth are bent on war. If nothing else, at least you're a consummate survivor. And in a fight like this, that will count for something."

"Well I appreciate the vote of confidence"

"It's not…It won't be until I hear of Shepard's success...and yours"

"Fair enough." I grinned.

Sure proving myself was a pain in the ass but, one of the things I had always enjoyed was blowing people out of the water.

"Good."

We booth stood, the Admiral had a fleet to get back to, and I had a station to explore.

"How bad was this" His grey eyes bored into me.

"Pardon me?"

"This episode. How bad."

"Best case of overuse is a splitting headache. Severe case a coma lasting around a week and at worst, a very very messy death."

"So this wasn't that bad."

"No it really wasn't."

We shook hands. It was a simple gesture but from a somebody to a nobody, was a show of faith. It demonstrated to me that he was confident that I'd be an asset to Shepard and the Alliance; and that was a good place to start. The Presidium was alive and buzzing again, the diplomats and dignitaries were moving at frantic pace, some new piece of gossip had seized the universe and electrified its elite.

I walked towards the artificial lake that sat in the centre of the presidium and leaned up against the railing. From here, looking across the lake towards the rest of the presidium, the citadel looked and sounded normal. I understood every word that was spoken and at a distance you couldn't tell who was and who wasn't human. It was when I looked up to see cars soaring over my head set against the backdrop of the pink nebula that I was reminded that this was my new normal and that I was the strange one. I couldn't help but laugh as kilometers above me, a massive dreadnaught flew by.

I just stared into space shaking my head _"Jeeves, never let this become normal. I want this sense of wonder to stay."_

_"__As do I sir…"_

"It's impressive isn't it?" A familiar voice asked from behind me.

I blinked a few times staring off.

"The destiny ascension is the largest ship in the citadel fleet."

"I can believe that."

We stood in silence for a moment watching the ships drift and the cars race by in the skies above us.

"So…"

"So?" I looked over at Larissa

"Thanks." She smiled

"It worked out?"

"Yeah…there was nothing on the terminals but it did confirm that all three of those people were shadow broker agents and also very much dead."

"Really? Shooting people through the head kills them?" I feigned surprise.

"So does stabbing them…repeatedly"

"I can imagine"

Larissa sighed "According to records, they had all died before today. Sky Car accidents mostly."

"Easy to fake." I shrugged, I'd done the same to get hangmen out of messes.

"I suppose, and the red sand warehouse, we found tons of the stuff."

"Red Sand does what exactly?"

"Increases biotic potential and creates an aggressive high for the user…but long term use can cause a whole range of negative effects. Blindness is the most common one in Batarians and Aasari."

"And in Humans?"

"Humans? Their noses get a messed up."

"Great…so it's biotic cocaine."

"Pretty much…"

"Why do Batarians go blind?"

"The powder is dropped into the eyes."

"Wow…that's…" I laughed "that's new."

"You didn't know what red sand was?"

"Nope…I just knew that eclipse wanted it and that that was enough of a reason to make sure that they didn't get it."

"You idiot…" Larissa shook her head

"What?" I was confused, as far as I was concerned I'd done a good thing.

"Not everything that eclipse does is illegal."

"Oh…" I trailed off, that was probably something I should have considered.

"Now you know…It didn't matter though."

"Your bosses were impressed with the bust?"

"Oh yeah, it was great. Hundreds of millions of credits worth of narcotics. That should dent their operations on the citadel. And I got commended for effectively using criminal informants"

I winced "Criminal Informant? You wound me." I took note of the time "Paperwork must move quick if you're done already."

Larissa laughed "Nope not even close. I escaped from Chelik, hopefully it takes him a while to notice"

"Running from paperwork…" I shook my head, a grin plastered to my face. Some things never change, neither through time or through universes.

"What? It's standard practice." Larissa joked

"Not if you're looking for a promotion." I countered with a grin

"First off, fuck you and secondly I was overdue for a break. Your tips kept me flying from one end of the station to the other for the entire day."

"It hasn't even been an eight hour shift yet."

"My shift was almost over when you started giving me work to do. It was set up to be such an easy day too."

"That should have been your first sign that things were going to go wrong. How long have you been on for?"

"Close to fourteen standard hours now."

"Well then…" I pushed myself off the railing "Come on, we'd best make the most out of your break."

"No…No more leads and arrests. Call someone else to take care of it."

"Crime waits for no man."

"I know but…" Larissa sighed "Fine, let's go then."

We walked in silence until we got to the elevator banks that could take us to the heart of the wards. Each elevator was an express to a single ward. From there we'd climb into secondary elevators that moved between districts and then it was all by foot or rapid transit. It made moving around the citadel quite a bit easier than navigating most modern cities.

"Which ward are we going to?"

"Dunno. I was hoping that you could suggest one."

"What?" Larissa looked at me confused

"What?! I'm not always looking to kill people or tip off citadel security. Sometimes I get hungry."

"So we're getting food?"

"That's a pretty good way of spending a secret break no?"

Larissa rolled her eyes "The lower wards, come on"

"Dull…"

"No, that's where you find the most variety. The other wards are mostly residential. Think of them as suburbs and the lower wards as the nexus. The downtown area. The wards are divided along racial lines in most places."

"There are ghettos on the citadel?"

"Yep. It makes it easier to track suspects though. And to find specialty items."

"Makes sense I guess…kind of disappointing though."

"Why?"

"I don't know…I guess part of me hoped that species that have known each other for millennia would be able to live in harmony instead of staying fragmented. A dream I guess since earth is…earth."

"The citadel isn't as bad as earth. Not by a long shot. New York's ghettos are a uniquely human mess."

"Thanks"

Larissa laughed "Don't worry about it" She punched me in the shoulder "The problems that humans make for themselves and their painfully complex solutions are what make them so much fun."

"I'm glad that our suffering amuses you"

"Please. Humans don't suffer. As soon as they start to suffer they start scheming and as soon as they're done that they start forcing change. That's the most human characteristic and what scares so many of the other races. Humans will force the universe to change around them instead of changing themselves to fit in, and like you said. The universe hasn't had to deal with a race like that since the Krogan and that ended with a galactic war."

"Well with that as a precedent, how could anyone be prejudiced against change."

I followed a half stride behind Larissa as she navigated that wards. It was strange how in a universe where so many species interacted how similarly everyone dressed. It was as though in coming to the citadel many race abandoned their own sense of style for that of the council races.

"You hear the news?" Larissa looking at me from the corner of her eye.

"News?"

"What a guy with his ear to the ground hasn't heard the news?" She asked, teasing

"Obviously not, stop fucking with me."

"Commander Shepard was made the first human Specter."

I nearly chocked on my spit. "I'm sorry what?!" I asked between coughs

"Yeah an hour ago or something like that. Pretty cool how quick humanity got a specter."

"It is…" I wheezed through the last of the coughs, I exhaled sharply "Amazing how easy it is to almost die."

"You good?"

"Yeah…I'm…fine…."

We set off at a brisk pace, Larissa determined to get wherever we were going, quickly.

"Where are we headed anyways?" I asked as we brushed past the denizens of the lower wards.

"The Azore. It's a lounge."

"A lounge?"

"What?!" Larissa spun to face me. Evidently, I hadn't hidden the surprise in my voice as well as I thought I did.

"I didn't say anything."

"Uh huh."

I tried and failed to stifle a laugh "Amazing."

"Yeah…up these stairs." Larissa replied as we came to a brief halt before a set of doors which slid silently apart to reveal a flight of stairs that all but glowed in the bright white lights that shone down.

_"__Not quite how I envisioned the stairway to heaven sir, it certainly is bright and white enough."_

_"__That it is Jeeves"_

I shared Jeeves's sentiment, Larissa started laughing again at my shock and confusion before she answered the obvious question. "It's to keep the place clean. If you're drunk there's no way you're making it up the stairs and if you're hung over or high the lights act as a deterrent. It's a bit of a trek to the top but believe me…it's worth it."

"If you say so."

"This place. Is great." Larissa was pretty much bouncing up the steps.

The first dozen or so stairs were completely normal but as we started to climb up, they became irregular both in shape and in angles. They weren't 90% but sometimes more and sometimes less and the step height also changed.

"How the hell do you get down?"

"There's a different way down. Hurry up!" Larissa was at the top waiting.

It was a short hallway and a quick right before my jaw dropped and eyes bugged out. I was standing in a lounge that was both similar enough and different enough to what I was familiar with to cause my brain to short circuit. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Larissa laughing at my rapidly shifting expressions. From bugged out surprise through varying stages of confusion to silently taking in my surroundings.

The doorway that I stood in was in the centre of the wall. Set in the wall by the left corner there was an automated coat check hologram thing. Directly to my left was a sort of collecting area for people who were waiting on other members of their party or for a table. The right going all the way down the right side was a wide path with tables on the outside for those who wanted to be seen and booths along the wall for people who wanted a bit more privacy. Along the left back wall there was a strait bar that was staffed by two Salarians who moved with surprising speed and deftness for a species that didn't have a full compliment of fingers. The tables were full, not completely but the Azore was clearly doing well, the bar was a bit emptier but that was to be expected at this hour. Even so, it was interesting to see the mixture of races that were drinking and eating together. Obviously the lounge was dominated by the council races but humans could be seen among them as well.

The big exception was the middle area. Set a couple steps into the floor, the middle of the lounge consisted of couches set up in a U shape around a central table. Some of the couch rings were bigger meant for large groups others were smaller for only a few people. From where I was standing it looked like every couch ring had a set of speakers and was facing a screen. A smaller bar was built into the right side of the center area. The back wall was made of glass and led out to a large terrace where a couple people stood drinking looking out at the citadel lost in thought.

Larissa grabbed me and dragged me to the hologram. Behind it were dozens of guns on racks and jackets on hangers. A bored looking human sat on a chair glaring at a small tablet.

"We have to disarm."

I raised an eyebrow and sighed "Fine"

"Just your rifle. Nobody cares about a side arm. Besides…we have our biotics."

I shrugged off my Gauss Rifle and placed it along with my jacket on the counter along. Larissa added her jacket to the pile.

"No guns?" I asked, most of us carried guns whether we were on duty of not.

"Not when I'm off duty. If I'm armed I go looking for trouble." Larissa rubbed her arm and smiled embarrassedly.

"What if trouble finds you?"

"Biotics"

"Ah…Fair Point"

Larissa's codex beeped once "C'mon."

The Salarian bartenders nodded to Larissa and slid to cans across the bar top to her. "The best thing about Salarians bartenders is that they always remember how you like to open up an evening"

"Is it evening?"

"I'm off work and that's good enough."

We walked out onto the veranda, the view was breathtaking. I was standing on the outside of a space station which somehow maintained an artificial atmosphere. The other two arms of the citadel stretched out in front of me into the nebula. Above and below were the other two wards, barely visible in my peripheral vision. When I looked down I saw the sky cars and the rest of the ward. Ships vanished in and out of the purple haze that felt somehow so close, as if I could just reach out and grab pulling some of the nebula into my arms…I imagined for some reason that it would have a cotton candy consistency.

"Here" Larissa handed me one of the beers

"Heineken!? Really? How the hell do you get Dutch beer on the citadel?"

"No clue, but it's great."

I shook my head and drank my beer. The taste brought back so many memories of my youth; from drinking in secret under train bridges to sneaking out at night to house parties when my buddies' parents were away all the way to the beginnings of college parties. Even during my time in the army, beer meant a good time. It's when beer switched to moonshine or Russian Vodka on the fronts that memories changed. After the war before the bombings, sitting on the beach… Beer and spiders… no matter where you were in the world you could always find both. "Larissa…" She looked up "What's the real story."

"What do you mean?"

"What's the real story? You're quoting human movies from the twentieth century, you're drinking Dutch beer and are obsessed with the pre-contact hell almost pre-spaceflight human culture. You lived on earth at some point."

Larissa sighed and leaned up against the railing. She looked crestfallen.

"Is it that obvious?"

"Not really. It's apparent to me because I'm much more familiar with it than most." I sighed heavily "Most people wouldn't figure it out. Humans seem to draw out the most extreme reactions from aliens, so nobody would think twice. But…c'mon how many Asari drink Heineken, have memorized lines of the godfather and, know the ins and outs of humanity circa two hundred years ago? Aliens obsessing over humans would study their modern history while historians study ancient times."

"Oh…Wait…Your time? What the hell does that mean?"

"You also speak with way too many human curses for a non native speaker."

"What do you mean, your time?"

"Nothing, like I told you before, the city I lived in got stuck in the past."

"Does that line usually work?"

I couldn't help but laugh "Eh" I shrugged "It was worth a shot. I was frozen for over a century."

"Frozen?" She turned to face me her confusion clear on her face.

"Yeah. An experiment into Cryogenics that was only partially effective the goal was to preserve people. It was only supposed to be a short stint so I volunteered, but for whatever reason, I assume that the process that they were supposed to use to bring us back didn't work, I was never defrosted." I cracked a half smile

Larissa laughed at my choice of words. "So you just woke up?"

"Yeah I woke up but it was more of an accident than anything else. The protocols for waking us up got accidentally activated so we wound up waking up in a warehouse. I was found by a very confused research intern. After having woken me up they couldn't very well just kill me. So…I ended up putting my skills to use."

"What happened to the rest of them"

"Defrosted with new identities or…dead. Too bad…they were my friends."

"Oh…"

"But that doesn't matter, you grew up on earth didn't you?"

"Yes I did. When the council was negotiating the treaty between the Turian Hierarchy and the Human Systems Alliance a couple Asari diplomats were sent to earth to act as liaisons. My father was one of them."

"I thought Asari were raised by their mothers."

"Usually yes…I was raised by my father. She was on earth so that's where I was."

"What was your mother doing?"

Larissa turned away

"She was a commando. During the peace process between the Human Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy, Asari Commandos were sent to Shanxi to extract Turian saboteurs and Blackwatch who were sent to the planet with the assumption that a Turian assault on the planet was imminent. But…that wasn't going to happen so the Asari High Command decide to remove them without informing the Systems Alliance."

Larissa paused gathering her thoughts "She had already done a couple runs…I guess that's why the Human marines on the surface became interested. The Commandos were extracting a Turian Infiltration unit…"

"How the hell do Turians infiltrate a human world?"

"You'd be surprised. In any case they had all the usual intel. Patrol routes, the times of fly overs by the Shanxi Air Wings. But the marines followed the commandos somehow so they intercepted them once they'd linked up with the Turian infiltrators. Humans and Turians were still at war. The Marines wanted to take them prisoner or execute them and…someone started shooting. By the time the fight was over. Half the Turians were dead, a dozen marines and four of the six commandos. Thirty people dead…including my mother." Larissa exhaled heavily "It almost derailed the entire peace process, the Alliance was livid. They were accusing the Asari of siding with the Turians and the Turians weren't particularly interested in peace. High Command tried to do the right thing and it went horribly wrong."

"I'm sorry."

Larissa scoffed "It doesn't matter anymore…it was a long time ago." She exhaled and turned to me "Besides…you were in stasis for two hundred years. At least I have friends…all of yours are dead."

I chuckled twice "Ouch. But here I am, making new ones"

"Cheers" The bottom of the can came far too quickly "Come on…let's go in. I'm hungry."

We skipped the bar and walked through the…hookah bar set up area. It was surprisingly silent and all the screens were black but people stood cheering at them and cursing at them or at least that's what I assumed given that I couldn't hear anything clearly just the occasional disjointed sound. It was the same relaxing yet slightly alien music that played in the rest of the lounge.

Sliding into a booth I had to sate my curiosity "How does that work. That there's no spill over and that we can't see the screens."

"Very very powerful VI's. They project interference patterns for the music and general interference for the voices. The VI's know what's coming for the music since it's a list, a very comprehensive list but still…with the screens there's a slight delay between the screens here and elsewhere to give the VI's time to adjust."

"Destructive interference…very cool."

"Yep…complete privacy."

"Nice" I couldn't help but grin. Privacy and anonymity had always been a concern of mine back on 21st century earth. "Is this all on you tonight Larissa?"

"Um…Do you even have any money?"

"Yeah, just thought I'd ask since you seem pretty intent on impressing me" My attempts at supressing a grin failed and I started laughing.

"Fuck off…" She said shaking her head grinning. "How do you have any money anyways? I thought you were a popsicle until a couple weeks ago."

"True but before I was frozen I dumped my savings into the military-industrial complex so…I have some money."

"Well anyways, I'll buy as a thank you for helping me and not being too pissed that I was following you around half the citadel. But next time it's on you."

"Strange…"

"What?"

"I'm not used to women buying me dinner."

"Technically Asari are mono-gendered so don't worry, this doesn't emasculate you."

"Wonderful" I rolled my eyes.

_"__You like her sir."_

_"__Yeah, there are people that you don't need to know for long to know that you'll get along with very well"_

_"__Very true sir."_

An Asari waitress came up to us and handed us menu's. It took me a handful of seconds for gales of laughter to overtake me.

"What?!" Larissa looked moderately concerned.

"This…all of this…I have no idea what any of this is." The laughter subsided but I was left with a grin wider than a peeled banana. "I assume that it's all food from various worlds but…I don't recognize anything…They have little blurbs with analogues to other foods…oh this is great."

"That's good…I think?"

"Yep" I kept flipping through the menu chuckling at a particularly alien sounding dish. The words were almost a meal themselves, sounds I wasn't used to making, letters I had never formed. The feeling as they rolled off my tongue was almost a meal unto itself.

"You know that it's organized by species right?"

"Is it? Oh yeah! Cool" My face was starting to hurt from smiling so widely but I couldn't help myself. Every time I thought that I had a handle on the surreality of my situation it came crashing back.

"You speak the Aramali dialect quite well. How'd you learn it in stasis.?"

"I do don't I. What kind of liquor do they have?"

"Anything you want."

"How'd you learn the council languages? C'mon indulge me" Larissa pressed with a smile

"Come on Larissa, can't a man have some secrets?" I sighed "Experimental technology, it wasn't pleasant but I had to get caught up on how everything changed in a century in order to stay sane." I switched topics "I can order any drink ever?"

Larissa considered pressing briefly before backing down "Yep, the advantages of Salarian bartenders and VI's."

A waitress came by took our order. I was somewhat surprised by Larissa's ordering of a completely unintelligible Asari dish. I had usual fallback of Cajun fried fish and fries with a pitcher of Reef Juice...boring but I was feeling nostalgic again.

"What the hell is Reef Juice?"

"Delicious. Rum, Vodka, Crème de Banane, Lime and Pineapple Juice. It's a fantastic human creation."

"You're proud of your planet."

"You haven't noticed that about Humans? We're prickly sons of bitches when it comes to our homelands."

"Of course I did. It was the first thing I noticed on earth. Never point out how shitty a city is compared to your home, not until your friends with the person or they ask."

"A good lesson. How did you experience Earth?"

"It was…difficult. I was pretty much the only Alien on earth at the time so it was hard to relate at first. Earth is so different from Thessia, the problems that Humanity is dealing with: Environmental Disasters, Warfare and, Corruption…those are all things that the Asari dealt with millennia ago. Hell some of the problems that Humanity has the Asari never had to deal with. We never had overpopulation problems and we never had the same distrust that Humans seem to have towards aliens. Asari culture is much more open, much more trusting and a lot less aggressive and violent. So it was…difficult for me to relate."

"But you managed." I took a moment to pour us a both a drink, enjoying the tropical flavours of the reef juice.

"It took a while…that first year on earth was…brutal. I didn't know how to act around humans and they didn't know how to treat me, so it was like this weird dance between two people that don't know what they're doing and don't what to do. But I learned and I guess it was good that I met humans."

"Why?"

"Humans are curious…too curious for their own good actually but it made it easier because I eventually fell in with a group of…" Larissa laughed "Now that I really think back on it, they were all a bunch of misfits and losers but they were also the only people happy to welcome me to their group once the obligatory awkward phase ended. And because they were curious they also tried to accommodate me." Larissa started laughing again.

"How so?"

"They tried to cook a dish from Thessia on the anniversary of my first year on Earth."

"Oh god" I held my head in my hands chuckling.

"Yep…Ask me how I know how awful human hospitals are"

I laughed "Wow…"

"Oh yeah. It took me a long time to trust their cooking again. But…They were a good group of people. That's probably the most paradoxical thing about humans. Once you're let into a group, you're part of it and for the most part it didn't matter that I was Asari. I stopped being defined by my species and started being defined by my belonging to that group."

"What about the planet though? Thessia and Earth can't be that similar."

"No they're not but…Vancouver wasn't that bad. It was a metropolis but…there were plenty of options to go and get lost in nature. I mean it's not the same as Thessia but…Thessia doesn't have the urban ghettos or the heavy smog that Earth's cities have. New York would have killed me, all the people all the smog. I had to go there a couple times with my father. Asia would have been awful too, beautiful architecture and incredible nature but…the poverty was crushed my spirit every time I went there."

"Would you believe me if I said that it used to be much much worse?"

"I wouldn't want to…" Larissa shook herself as though she was trying to drive away un unpleasant image. I offered her another drink to try and help chase it away.

"But why my time? That's what I don't get…if you were trying so hard to fit in, why would my time be what you cared about? Wouldn't you be studying modern times?"

"I did…but like I said when I came to Earth, the people I fell in with were fascinated by what they called the transition: Between needing hands on analog control and haptics. They loved the mechanics of old technologies."

"WOOOWww... way to make me feel like a relic."

_ "__Who would have thought that you were steampunk sir."_

_"__Heh, yeah pretty much actually."_

Larissa laughed "It's great. You're an antique…like a talking museum exhibit."

"Oh fuck off." I couldn't stop myself from smiling, doubly so when the food arrived.

I had spent the last decade on the run, fast food and whatever I could scrape together was all I ate. Real pub style British fish and chips was so far away from my reality that this…here on the Citadel was just as much of a religious experience as the Twilight Zone. Any serious conversation was cut off by increasing amounts of alcohol and we passed the rest of the evening in amiable small talk and idle chit chat. I learned a bit more about C-Sec, the meaning of the spectres and the odds and ends that any resident of this galaxy could be expected to know.

Eventually though, as with everything, it had to end. Larissa's arm glowed. "Ah shit."

"What?"

"Chelik."

"Fuck" I laughed.

Movement by the door caught my attention. An alliance soldier in armour walked through the door, looked around quickly and made a beeline for the bar. I recognized both the flaming red hair and confident swagger that begged for a challenge from anyone with the guts for a fight.

"I have to go" Larissa's voice jerked me back.

"Work"

"No. Chelik finished everything he just needs my signatures."

"Good luck."

"Will you be here tomorrow?"

"Right here? As much as I like this place. Probably not. I want to explore."

Larissa rolled her eyes and punched me in the arm "On the citadel you moron."

"I doubt it. I have work to do."

"Oh…" Her face fell slightly "Well…let me know when you get back ok?"

"Roger Wilco."

"That's redundant"

"I know"

She clasped my shoulder "Try not to die?"

"You too" I grinned "If I have anything worth saying. You'll be the first to know."

"Thanks" She leaned in and kissed me on the cheek.

_Jeeves's laughter echoed through my alcohol thickened mind "You're surprised! My god that's the first time I've seen that happen in a forever. You are shell-shocked and speechless. This is glorious, you're like a surprised owl." _

_"__I was kissed…by an ALIEN. I'm sorry Jeeves that's not something I ever saw happening in my lifetime."_

_Jeeves didn't stop laughing even as I stood up and wandered over to the bar where Shepard was sitting._

"Hello Commander"

"James!" Shepard, clearly somewhat drunk, laughed and clapped my shoulder,

"Sorry should I be calling you spectre?"

The Commander groaned "Yeah don't bring it up. That's all everyone's been talking about today."

"You're the first…so not only are you a test for humanity. You're a test for women in all of Human space."

Shepard's only retort was to punch me in the arm…in the same place as Larissa. Her gauntleted hand would leave a bruise.

"So we're in a bar…"

"No Commander…My past doesn't matter."

"But you said…"

"And I lied…look I could tell you I was a global dictator and you wouldn't be able to disprove it. You know everything about me that you need to know…for now at least. All that matters is the future, and going forward you're the first human Spectre. You have a crew and a couple random sons of bitches standing behind you. And we're counting on you to take down a race of sentient machines and save the galaxy."

"So no pressure eh?" Shepard downed another double. I joined her in the slow murder of brain cells.

"People like you work better under pressure."

"I hope you're right."

We raised our glasses and drank

"So do I. I've bet my life on it after all."


End file.
